A British and Irish Lions great has named a surprise destination for a future trip amid calls for Australia to be taken off the tour roster. The Lions’ current schedule across 12 years consists of visits to Australia, New Zealand and South Africa.
However, so underwhelming is the level of opposition on the latest 2025 tour, Brian Moore, a Test series winner against the Wallabies in 1989, has called for a change and for the Lions to tour somewhere else in 2037.
The Lions are set to visit New Zealand in 2029 and South Africa in 2033, but ex-England hooker Moore wants a different destination to be stitched into the calendar for the next trip.
His call follows the underwhelming level of opposition provided by the low ebb Wallabies, who were comfortably defeated in last Saturday’s Test series opener. The low standard of the provincial opposition provided in recent weeks by Australia’s Super Rugby Pacific teams has also been roundly criticised.
“None of this is straightforward…”
Writing in The Telegraph, Moore claimed that the US Eagles would be ideal future opponents – if they improved.
“I am aware from speaking to several Lions’ committee members that there have been discussions about whether to strike out in different directions in the future,” he began.
“The problem is that South Africa and New Zealand will remain premier touring destinations, so you are talking about a once-in-every-12-years tour. It might be that Australia has recovered its place at rugby union’s top table by then – but what if things go backwards?
“None of this is straightforward. Talk of taking on France is misguided. A format that contains only Six Nations players would imitate the world’s oldest and premier rugby union tournament, which has been consistently popular and commercially successful.
“The United States would be ideal if the Eagles could deliver long-hoped-for standards, but what if you commit to it and improvements do not come? There are many factors that work against the US vision, and I cannot see them being solved even in the medium term.
“Touring the Pacific Islands and Argentina would be good for the image of the game, but commercially challenging, and the Lions are about making money in the professional era. One challenge is the R360 professional circus, which is said to be imminent.
“Where do the Lions fit in a rugby world that might see all its top players playing against each other 16 times a year? What is the attraction of Lions players taking on opponents who might already be regular teammates or adversaries?”
Reflecting on the current Test series, which continues in Melbourne this Saturday before finishing in Sydney on August 2, Moore added: “The Wallabies will get better in the remaining two Tests but so should the Lions. Their lineout set piece malfunctioned in a way that could have been telling in a tighter contest and their inaccuracy around try-scoring chances can be rectified.
“In terms of relative merits of what might come, the gap between the sides should not close if both sides improve as they ought to.
“Of all the statistics you can scrutinise from the first Test, the most telling is that the Lions made around twice as much ground after contact as the Aussies.
“This meant that breakdowns were constantly moving forward in the Lions’ favour, with the Australian defence pressured continually.
“If that equation cannot be neutralised, it is difficult to see how Australia are going to be able to play from an even field, and even if they do so, you have the fact the Lions’ bench is going to be far more experienced and talented than anything the Aussies can summon.”