As the 2025 British and Irish Lions prepared for the opening game of their current adventure, RugbyPass attempted to come up with a greatest Lions team of the professional era.
Predictably perhaps, not all of you agreed with our choice, but then vociferous debate is all part of the fun when it comes to the four-pronged touring combination, isn’t it?
As the excitement levels crank up to fever pitch approaching Saturday’s first Test of the series against Australia, we will be counting down some of the most iconic moments in Lions history, again – with due deference to the legendary teams of previous generations – restricting ourselves just to the seven previous tours of the professional era since 1997.
Our panel of RugbyPass writers – featuring contributions from Bryn Palmer, Jamie Lyall, Neil Squires, Owain Jones and Pat McCarry – will be jogging your memories with five moments on each day this week, before Andy Farrell’s men perhaps burnish these standout snapshots with some of their own.
Again, do let us know your thoughts on our selection, politely of course, and feel free to suggest other iconic moments of your own.
25. Morne Steyn breaks Lions hearts again – 12 years apart (2021)
It was a Hollywood-scripted return from the international wilderness for Steyn as the Lion tamer cracked his whip again to win another series for the Springboks.
Twelve years on from kicking the Series-clinching penalty against the Lions in Pretoria, Steyn – now 37 – came off the bench to do it again in the Third Test in Cape Town.
It wasn’t a monster thump from his own half as in 2009, but it still needed a steady nerve to get the job done from 35 metres with the scores level and two minutes left on the clock. There could have been no better man for the job.
Steyn had not played Test rugby for five years and had given up hope of doing so again but after returning to South Africa from a six-year sojourn in France, he was brought back for the decider. It proved an inspired call.
The Lions, invigorated by Finn Russell’s early entrance as a replacement, led at half-time but Steyn was introduced with 15 minutes left as the game – and the series – effectively turned into a penalty shoot-out. After knocking over a beauty from near the right-hand touchline with virtually his first act, when it came to the money shot two minutes from time, he hit the jackpot for South Africa. (NS)
You can watch the full replay of the deciding Test of the 2021 series on RugbyPass TV.
24. Gareth Thomas gives the Lions hope…momentarily (2005)
The 2005 British & Irish Lions tour was hard to love. The bloated Tour party, the targeting of Brian O’Driscoll, not to mention a crushing 3-0 series loss that ended Sir Clive Woodward’s involvement with top-level coaching.
Such was the rancour that the very concept of the Lions was called into question. Indeed, there were only modest rays of light in a tour of unremitting drudgery. One moment that quickened the pulse, if momentarily, was stand-in tour captain Gareth Thomas throwing caution to the wind.
With just 1m 27s on the clock in the Third Test, ‘Alfie’ took the ball from a Jonny Wilkinson pop pass at the base of the ruck. Sensing an opening, he pinned his ears back, stepped off his left foot, leaving Keven Mealamu clasping at thin air, and bolted through a gap, to go under the sticks unopposed.
“Oh, what’s the captain doing?”, exclaimed Miles Harrison in the commentary box. Giving the Lions some long overdue joy, was his answer.
“A try that changes the feel of the series!” Harrison exclaimed. Wishful thinking as the Lions were duly blown away 38-19, but for a few seconds, the bedraggled Lions dared to dream. (OJ)
You can watch the top 10 moments from the 2005 Lions tour on RugbyPass TV.
23. Ugo Monye’s 70m dash to redemption clinches final Test win in 2009
It was almost possible to hear the thundering hooves of Ugo Monye above the roars of the Lions fans in the stands at Ellis Park. Having picked off – one-handed – a floated pass from Wynand Olivier on his own 22, he was in glorious full flight, coordinates set for the Springboks’ goal line.
The Lions had called up the England wing to tour South Africa in 2009 after just one season of Test rugby for his pace and he paid them back in style in that searing 70m sprint.
South Africa gave desperate pursuit but it was a hopeless cause. By the time Monye had reached the home side’s 22, he knew they weren’t going to catch him and raised his left arm in celebration. After he touched down for a 54th-minute try that stretched the Lions’ lead to 15 points, the emotion and elation came out in a primal roar.
The series had gone after the brutal Second Test loss, but it mattered to those Lions that they signed off on the right note and they did so, closing out the game 28-9, a record-equalling win in South Africa.
Redemption was how Monye, the tour’s leading try-scorer but who had missed two chances in the Lions’ First Test defeat, later described it. (NS)
You can watch the top 10 moments from the 2009 tour on RugbyPass TV.
22. Doddie Weir’s case of ‘mistaken identity’ (1997)
By the late 1990s, the world was changing. Technological advancements coupled with the rise of satellite television meant unprecedented interest in this first Lions tour of the professional era. There would be a large corps of travelling reporters and a potentially partisan South African media awaiting the team’s arrival.
Organisers thought it wise to expose their players to some artificial journalistic scrutiny. A media training session was arranged before the squad flew to South Africa. Players were grilled on a series of theoretical scenarios. The robustness and credibility of their responses were decidedly mixed.
Enter Doddie Weir. It was put to the inimitable Scottish lock forward that he’d been seen in a Port Elizabeth nightclub breaching tour curfew. Weir paused and smacked his lips before delivering his now legendary riposte: “mistaken identity”.
The room, previously tense, erupted. Team-mates’ shoulders shook furiously at the notion of ‘Doddie’, instantly recognisable as a gangling, fair-skinned, 6ft 7ins rugby player with a love of good times and good beer, being mistaken for anybody.
Weir was getting into his comedic stride, reporting his father, too, was out on tour, and suggesting perhaps the family resemblance had confused his informant. For this epic wit, and so many other reasons besides, Doddie is sorely missed. (JL)
21. Rob Kearney’s cracker – with a bit of Jones magic – in Second Test in 2009
The Second Test against South Africa, in 2009, is often remembered as all-out war. On a re-watch, the footage backs up the sentiment. “It was really brutal, but one for the ages,” Brian O’Driscoll recalled. “It was really, really ferocious. But it was Test match rugby at its’ best. It was gladiatorial.”
What many bypass, when recalling that game at Loftus Versfeld, are passages of sublime play, from both the Lions and the Springboks. None more so than the Lions’ opening try, seven minutes in.
Jamie Roberts and Simon Shaw carries pummelled over the gain-line, Mike Phillips found Stephen Jones and the Welshman got away an incredible offload out the back of his hand to Rob Kearney, that took out Adi Jacobs and Bryan Habana with one breath-taking flick.
Kearney had missed out on the starting XV for the First Test but came on at full-back when Lee Byrne got injured and started the second. In the biggest game of his career, against the reigning world champions, Kearney rose magnificently to the occasion.
The 23-year-old dummied a pass to Tommy Bowe and backed himself, evading Frans Steyn and taking JP Pietersen over the try-line with him for a sensational score. (PM)
You can watch the full match replay of the epic Second Test of 2009 on RugbyPass TV.
