A week on from clinching the series with their biggest ever comeback, the British & Irish Lions will get the chance to seal a whitewash of Australia when the sides meet again in Sydney on Saturday.
The margin of victory in the second Test might have been as narrow as possible. And the validity of Hugo Keenan’s dramatic, last play try to cap the Lions’ comeback was hotly contested by the home side. But now the Wallabies are facing the unthinkable.
Chasing a clean-sweep
The 2025 Lions are not undefeated. They lost their first match together, against Argentina in Dublin.
But on tour in Australia, at least, their record has been spotless so far: played eight, won eight, which obviously includes both Test matches.
The last time they had all wins on tour was nearly a century ago, in Argentina in 1927. One of the great Lions sides of a more recent vintage went undefeated in 1974 in South Africa, although Willie John McBride’s “Invincibles” were held to a controversial draw in the last Test.
The current crop are focused on a clean-sweep, with captain Maro Itoje suggesting they have not even played their best rugby yet.
“While the first two games have been great, there’s still a feeling that we haven’t put it together in a way we know we can,” Itoje said this week.
“We want to chase down the performance we’ve been searching for. The Wallabies will be hungry and up for it but we also want to make some history this weekend.”
No squad rotation
The last time the Lions won a Test series with a Test to go, in 1997, they shuffled their pack for the final match, gave midweek players a chance, and lost.
That tour still ranks as one of their great ones, thought, with the series victory coming against the world champion South Africans.
Even if the Lions do close out a whitewash on Saturday, they are unlikely to be remembered in quite such reverential terms.
There are two reasons for that: the 1997 series, the first in the professional era, was a special moment in time, captured for posterity by the Living With The Lions documentary. Plus the merit of this Wallabies side is debatable.
That said, the tourists are doing all they can to touch greatness. That has meant sticking largely with the same side for the last Test.
The only changes to the XV are Blair Kinghorn replacing James Lowe on the wing, with James Ryan coming in for Ollie Chessum in the second row.
Furlong’s feat
Maybe it is because prop forwards do not crave the limelight like players elsewhere on the field. But the lack of attention Tadhg Furlong gets is strange, given his achievements.
The Irish prop deserves to be regarded as a Lions great. He will equal Alun Wyn Jones in starting nine consecutive Tests for the Lions.
Now aged 32, a fourth tour, to New Zealand in four years’ time might not be beyond him.
Itoje – that eminently starrier figure – will also appear in his ninth Lions Test in a row, having made his debut off the bench in New Zealand in 2017.
Importance to Australia
Are the Wallabies seriously playing for their future on Saturday? A 3-0 loss would be the latest exclamation mark signalling the decline of rugby union in a country who are two-time world champions.
But could it realistically prompt dropping the tour from the Lions cycle in future? Taking the invitational side on the short hop across the Channel to France for a series in future has been discussed.
It seems difficult to believe that fixtures against Australia would ever be replaced. Set aside the results on this tour, and consider the fact the hosts packed 90,000 into the MCG for the second Test, and will likely have 80,000 there in Sydney on Saturday for a dead rubber.
A following like that is too important to be swept away. But a victory in the last game would be more than just consolation for the hosts.
White’s farewell
One of the links to the last time Australia were any good is set to be broken after this weekend, as Nic White draws the curtain on his Test career.
The scrum-half is the one survivor in the Australia squad from the time these two teams last met, 12 years ago.
He will start in the No 9 shirt for the third Test, which is the 73rd and last game of his international career.
“First and foremost Nic is a great man to have in a squad,” Joe Schmidt, the Wallabies coach said. “He’s team first all the time and has been at the top of the game for over a decade.”
