Try telling Jamie George this Lions tour match is a glorified fundraiser

Times

21-07-2025

It is very easy to look at the Tuesday midweek match in Melbourne with a cynical eye.
The First Nations & Pasifika XV game at Marvel Stadium looks something of an inconvenience for the Lions, who have called up five cannon-fodder players to protect the Test team.
The Ireland tight-head Thomas Clarkson, who does not make a fully-fit Leinster squad, is joined by Scottish players Ewan Ashman, Rory Sutherland, Gregor Brown and Darcy Graham, who were perhaps not the next best options available, but the closest, arriving from their national team's tour of New Zealand.
The Times's Chief Sports Writer, Owen Slot, labelled this match a 'glorified fundraiser' to satisfy broadcasters and sponsors and sell more tickets. It was cobbled together late, after the Melbourne Rebels went bust last year.
Yet then you sit down with Jamie George, just about over his jetlag having taken 47 hours to get here via San Juan, Buenos Aires, Rio de Janeiro and Dubai while watching chick-flicks and a whole series of crime drama MobLand, and you suddenly feel better about the whole exercise. Floored by his initial omission from the squad in May, George says he would have swum to Australia to play one more time for the Lions.
Now on his third tour, George has afforded his 74-year-old father, Ian, another trip (which has been stressful, as his initial flight from Heathrow was cancelled on Saturday). As Ian's wife, Jane, George's mother, died of cancer last year, it gives his appearance at this fixture even more meaning. Jane loved the Lions and her trip with Ian to watch George in New Zealand on his first Lions tour in 2017. George says his best rugby memories have come in the red shirt, so he intends to make the most of all this.
'To be able to represent the Lions again is stuff that dreams are made of,' George, 34, says before his start at hooker. 'I'm blown away, find it very surreal and am taken aback. This will be one of the biggest games of my career.
'It's emotional to be out here because I never thought this opportunity was going to come. When the squad was announced I was heartbroken and now I've got the opportunity to pull the jersey on again — and it might be the last time, it might not be.
'I'll play like it's the last time. I want to make people proud, I want to do the jersey proud and do everything I possibly can to win in a Lions [Test] jersey because I think international selection is one thing but winning as a Lion is different, so that's what I'm here to do.
'Obviously it's sad that my mum is not going to be able to be here but being able to do stuff like this for people like my old man, giving him the opportunity to travel around Australia, to watch his son play for the Lions. That's the special bit about what I do and it's my biggest motivation.'
George knows that to push a Test case he has to fit into Andy Farrell's Lions system seamlessly. He is self-aware enough to realise he is near the back of the queue and calls Test starter Dan Sheehan 'the best hooker on the planet, if not one of the best rugby players', but it does not mean he is not going to give it everything on Tuesday.
He could not believe the physical level the Lions reached in the first Test win against Australia in Brisbane on Saturday. 'I didn't see a world where Australia looked like winning the game,' he says, having watched from the stands. 'Tom Curry was on jet fuel. It was crazy.'
He is incredibly excited about the second Test, having been privy to the conversations the Lions are having internally. 'I have been on two tours before and I have never won a series. All we care about is making sure that we do that,' he says.
'The potential of the team is huge. That's regardless of who's put in front of them but I'm also expecting a much better Australia team. I think they would've been disappointed with the way they played. There's talk of them bringing in some pretty big hitters. Is Test two going to go nuclear? I'd imagine so from both sides.'
An avid cricket fan, George is childishly excited about going to the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Saturday, perhaps even as part of the Test team. He says that if he was not playing for Saracens this Christmas he would be with the Barmy Army gorging on the Ashes series in Australia.
'One hundred per cent, I'd be in the mix, shirt off, I'd have anywhere between 15 and 20 pints, a tattoo of Joe Root on one arm, Ben Stokes on the other,' George says, laughing.
'How good is it going to be? [With] 100,000 people at the MCG. I thought the atmosphere was good at the weekend but from experience it just goes like that [upwards] in the second Test, third Test.'
George remembers watching Graeme Swann lead the England team in doing the 'sprinkler' dance after beating Australia to go 2-1 up in the 2010-11 fourth Ashes Test at the MCG, a result that retained the urn. If things go the Lions' way on Saturday, will George channel Swann?
'What a great shout that,' he says, a twinkle in his eye. 'I see myself as a sort of Graeme Swann figure. Similar characters, both talented blokes. It could happen… who knows? I am as motivated as I have ever been.'
Marvel Stadium, MelbourneTuesday 22nd July, 2025Kick-off: 11am