Lions face daunting three tests and five Super Rugby sides in 2017 New Zealand tour
New Zealand Rugby on Friday announced a packed 10-match programme for the 2017 British & Irish Lions tour, including three tests between the Lions and All Blacks.
New Zealand Rugby (NZR) on Friday announced a packed 10-match programme for the 2017 British & Irish Lions tour, including three tests between the Lions and All Blacks.
In addition to the internationals, the Lions will play all five of New Zealand’s Super Rugby teams, plus the Maori All Blacks.
Their five-week trip, which unlike the 2013 Australia tour when they stopped off to play the Barbarians in Hong Kong, will not include any warm-up matches on the way to New Zealand and will start against a composite provincial side on June 3, 2017. The test series begins in Auckland on June 24.
The series in New Zealand will be a huge occasion, featuring the best players from England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales and providing almost six weeks of incredible rugby
NZR chief executive Steve Tew said the tour was set to generate more demand than the Lions’ last trip in 2005, when 20,000 travelling fans created a boisterous atmosphere and injected an estimated NZ$135 million (US$90 million) into the economy.
“The series in New Zealand will be a huge occasion, featuring the best players from England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales and providing almost six weeks of incredible rugby,” he said.
The Lions tour every four years, with the event rotated between South Africa, New Zealand and Australia, where they overcame the Wallabies 2-1 in 2013.
They lost 3-0 when last in New Zealand in 2005, with the defining moment a spear tackle on Brian O’Driscoll early in the first test that forced the Irishman out of the tour.