Former All Blacks forward Murray Mexted would not pick a single British and Irish Lions player in a current World XV.<\/b><\/p>\n
Andy Farrell\u2019s charges won all but one of their matches on tour in Australia, losing the final Test against the Wallabies, having wrapped up the series a week prior.<\/p>\n
The Lions<\/a> set a clear goal of a series \u2018redwash\u2019 but fell short of the mark after being outplayed in the series finale.<\/p>\n Not since the 1974 tour to South Africa have the men in the famous red jersey gone unbeaten on tour or won a series 3-0, and despite falling just one game short of greatness in 2025, Mexted<\/a> still believes that this wasn\u2019t a very good Lions team.<\/p>\n 3-0 would have been a \u2018disgrace\u2019<\/p>\n In fact, he believes that it would have been disgraceful on the Wallabies<\/a>\u2018 part had Farrell\u2019s team won the final Test match.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Wallabies won 60 minutes of the second Test, and they looked the better side [in the third]. I actually don\u2019t think that this Lions team is very good,\u201d he told the DSPN podcast with Martin Devlin.<\/p>\n \u201cPeople are trying to sell to us that they are, and the Lions themselves are too and had they won 3-0, it would have been a bloody disgrace for Australian Rugby, quite frankly.\u201d<\/p>\n While the likes of Dan Sheehan, Tom Curry, Tadhg Beirne and Maro Itoje impressed during the series and have done so at the highest level for several seasons, Mexted still doesn\u2019t believe that any one of them would warrant a place in a hypothetical World XV.<\/p>\n \u201cThere are a couple of things here. What is the level of the Australian rugby team at the moment? And that\u2019ll give you sort of a gauge on what this Lions side is, and then think about how many of those Lions players would make a World XV?<\/p>\n \u201cIf you named a World XV which included players from South Africa and New Zealand and everywhere else for that matter\u2026 how many of those Lions players would make it? I\u2019ve looked at the team two or three times and I can\u2019t see one of them.\u201d<\/p>\n Stunned by the claim, show host Devlin interjected, saying, \u201cItoje, come on, surely?\u201d<\/p>\n Ex-British and Irish Lions star makes BOLD All Blacks and Springboks claim after series victory<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Mexted, stood by his take: \u201cIn the second Test, you didn\u2019t see him in the first half at all. He was dominated in the first half, he disappeared from the game when the momentum came about halfway through the second half, he popped up and did a few things for sure. Third Test, well, we didn\u2019t see him, did we? He left after a few minutes.<\/p>\n \u201cYou can\u2019t tell me that you put Itoje in over the South African locks and even the New Zealand locks. Would you put Itoje in the same category as Barrett?\u201d<\/p>\n Devlin replied: \u201cYes. Over a period of his career where he\u2019s been ultra consistent, I think he\u2019s one of the best in the world. No question about it.\u201d<\/p>\n