4 Jun 2005 British and Irish Lions v. Bay of Plenty Rotorua International Stadium
8 Jun 2005 British and Irish Lions v. Taranaki Yarrow Stadium, New Plymouth
11 Jun 2005 British and Irish Lions v. NZ Maori Waikato Stadium, Hamilton
15 Jun 2005 British and Irish Lions v. Wellington Westpac Stadium, Wellington
18 Jun 2005 British and Irish Lions v. Otago Carisbrook, Dunedin
21 Jun 2005 British and Irish Lions v. Southland Rugby Park, Invercargill
25 Jun 2005 * British and Irish Lions v. All Blacks Jade Stadium, Christchurch
28 Jun 2005 British and Irish Lions v. Manawatu Arena Manawatu, Palmerston North
2 Jul 2005 * British and Irish Lions v. All Blacks Westpac Stadium, Wellington
5 Jul 2005 British and Irish Lions v. Auckland Eden Park, Auckland
9 Jul 2005 * British and Irish Lions v. All Blacks Eden Park, Auckland

All games in New Zealand will be aired on Sky Sports.


How it all started

During the winter of 1888, Messrs Alfred Shaw and Arthur Shrewsbury (who as cricket entrepreneurs were the managers of an touring team in Australia) together with A.E Stoddart conceived the idea of an English rugby team to play in the southern colonies. Shrewsbury was W.G.Grace's predecessor as England's cricket captain, while Stoddart succeeded Grace.

When they asked the Rugby Football Union to patronise the tour they were refused, which was typical of the conservatism of that august body, with attitudes which prevailed for the next century.


The RFU refused their patronage on the grounds that it was a team which was organised for the benefit of individual promoters, who were not under the umbrella of any recognised sporting body. They saw no reason, however, to interfere with the project, as long as the promoters and the players did not infringe the principle that it was an amateur game.

The fact that it was not under the auspices of the Rugby Football Union considerably weakened the strength of the side, as fewer international players took part than would otherwise have done so. Nevertheless, Shaw and Shrewsbury secured the service of 20 players, including many county players, all but one of whom hailed from the north of England and the Scottish borders. G.Bran, A.E. Stoddart and C. Aubrey Smith (later to become a well known Hollywood film star), all of whom were already in Australia with the cricket team, were also available.

The team left England on 8 March 1888 and arrived home on 11 November of the same year, having played 53 games in all with only 22 players, making a mockery of complaints by the modern player of too many matches. There was nothing amateur about this number of games.

The team was sufficiently powerful to give a good account of itself and the players not only gave Australia and New Zealand an indication of the strength of English rugby, but upheld their country's honour by winning 27 of the 35 matches played in New Zealand and Australia under Rugby Union laws, with six draws and two defeats.

The extraordinary feature of the tour was that 18 further games were played under Victorian or Australian Rules. Inevitably, the results here were not as good, with 11 defeats, one draw and only six wins. These matches were undertaken as a means of making money for the promoters, who were underwriting the costs. As there was little or no rugby in areas like Victoria, it was sold. on the basis of seeing the Englishmen in exhibition games. Had the tour been under the auspices of the RFU, then no such matches under alien rules would have been permitted.

This article was originally posted on 29-May-2005, 20:58 by Hugh Barrow.
Last updated by Hugh Barrow on 29-May-2005, 22:49.