Tour skipper Finlay Calder said: “In a sporting context, that was as low as I got. Ieuan Evans was to later declare the Lions had been “bullied off the park”. The first Test hadn’t gone well for the class of ’89.Īustralia had bossed the line-out, been quicker to the breakdown and boasted masterly game-controllers at half-back in Nick Farr-Jones and Michael Lynagh. When the dust had settled, Australia’s then coach Bob Dwyer reflected ruefully that his team "had been beaten up by the English coppers". The Lions were to win the match 19-12 and go on to take the series. Possibly, someone might be standing nearby, shouting: "Stop it! Stop it, you lot!!" Were a cartoonist covering the second encounter between the sides, they’d have spent much of it drawing red and gold-shirted figures vanishing into balls of smoke with the occasional head, boot or clenched fist sticking out amid stars flying everywhere, depicting one heck of a scrap. Maybe Test rugby has thrown up more physical packs.Īustralia had bullied the Lions in the first Test, winning 30-12, but there was to be no repeat. Three English policemen - Wade Dooley, Paul Ackford and Dean Richards - were at the heart of a Lions forward unit which also contained David Sole, Brian Moore, Dai Young, Finlay Calder and Teague.
There were some hard players on that tour hard men and they all came together and sorted the job out."
"We can't be seen to condone what went on, but needs must. Indeed, the redoubtable Englishman Mike Teague went as far as to say: "I would describe it as the most violent game of rugby that has ever been played. The one thing we can say for sure is that Gandhi would not have been among those doing the cheering after the Lions faced Australia in the second Test in 1989.