IT IS A marker of Brian O’Driscoll’s status as an all-time rugby legend that he was part of four Lions tours.
That kind of achievement takes a bit of luck, of course. There is a long history of badly-timed injuries denying players their well-earned chances to tour.
But there is no doubt about O’Driscoll’s credentials as a great Lion. He is one of only two players to have been on four tours in the professional era. Alun Wyn Jones of Wales is the other. Back in the amateur days, Willie John McBride and Mike Gibson went on five tours.
O’Driscoll was a three-Test star in Australia in 2001, had his series ended by injury in controversial circumstances in the first Test in New Zealand in 2005, suffered a second-Test injury in South Africa in 2009, and was infamously dropped for the final Test in Australia in 2013.
It would have been more but for the injuries, yet eight Test caps for the Lions was serious stuff from O’Driscoll.
Only two other players have racked up more Lions Test caps in the pro era.
Welsh second row Jones played in all 12 of the Lions’ Tests on the 2009, 2013, 2017, and 2021 tours. That is incredible durability and consistency.
English prop Mako Vunipola won nine Test caps across three tours in 2013, 2017, and 2021, another outstanding achievement.
Ireland scrum-half Conor Murray is equal with O’Driscoll, having played in eight Tests over the same three tours as Vunipola.
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The great Paul O’Connell is just behind with seven Tests during his three Lions trips, while England’s Martin Corry and Matt Dawson also hit seven. Corry’s tally included a Test cap against Argentina in Cardiff in 2005 before departing for New Zealand.
Maro Itoje is in line to be named Lions skipper. Alamy Stock Photo
Alamy Stock Photo
Martin Johnson played in eight Tests for the Lions, although the first two of his caps came on the 1993 tour before the game turned professional. Jeremy Guscott also hit eight, but two of his three tours were in 1989 and 1993.
So, who of the still-active Lions might enter this impressive company on the 2025 Australia tour?
England second row Maro Itoje is expected to be named Lions captain tomorrow after Caelan Doris’ shoulder injury and looks certain to add to his six Test caps from 2017 and 2021, barring injury.
Itoje is only 30 and given his record of durability, he could make another Lions tour in 2029 but this summer’s series in Australia should see him level fellow Englishman Vunipola on nine Test caps.
36-year-old Murray plans to play on next season, so he remains eligible for the Lions. Andy Farrell has always been a big fan of Murray’s composure and class, yet it would be a big call to pick him ahead of other scrum-half options.
Some of Murray’s 2013 Lions squad-mates are still playing and have been discussed as possible tourists.
Among them is 33-year-old out-half/inside centre Owen Farrell, who already has six Test caps from the 2013, 2017, and 2021 tours.
Farrell was on the bench behind Johnny Sexton for the 2013 Tests but only came on in the third clash with the Wallabies. He started all three Tests in New Zealand in 2017, but only got two replacement appearances in the 2021 series before being dropped from the matchday 23 for the deciding Test against the Springboks.
Wales number eight Taulupe Faletau is another of the 2013 Lions tourists who remains on the scene and is seen as an outside shot at going this summer. Faletau has four Test caps from 2013, 2017, and 2021, although he got none on the most recent trip.
Tadhg Furlong played in all of the Lions’ last six Tests across the 2017 and 2021 series. The Irish tighthead has had an injury-troubled season, yet his longstanding quality means he looks certain to go this summer.
Owen Farrell has been on three Lions tours. Dan Sheridan / INPHO
Dan Sheridan / INPHO / INPHO
Furlong’s chances of adding to his Test caps seem high and he will back himself to reach nine by the end of the series. That would put him in elite company.
Furlong has started all of his six Test caps so far and backing him up on every occasion has been English tighthead Kyle Sinckler, who is now playing with Toulon so has been out of the national team. He remains eligible.
Courtney Lawes has been flagged as a repeat tourist, even if he is now 36 and playing in the French Pro D2 with Brive. The hard-hitting English flanker earned five Lions Test caps on the last two tours.
32-year-old versatile English back Elliot Daly hit the same tally on the 2017 and 2021 trips, with his return to the England team during the Six Nations putting him back in the shop window this year.
Among the fresh Lions faces from 2021, there are many hoping to hear their names read out tomorrow. Scotland wing Duhan van der Merwe – currently sidelined with an ankle injury but due to be back next month – started all three Tests in 2021, as did England back row Tom Curry.
Curry, who turns 27 next month, is nailed on to be named this time around and if his body can keep performing wonders in the face of the physical brutality he puts it through, he might end up among the most-capped Lions.
Ireland’s Jack Conan started the three Tests in 2021 and has been an important figure in Farrell’s Ireland set-up since, often impacting from the bench. He would have been in the mix anyway but after Doris’ injury, Conan has a good chance of being involved again.
England hooker Luke Cowan-Dickie featured in the three Tests in South Africa last time, starting the first two, and is among the options for Farrell in that position. His English team-mate Jamie George, also a three-Test Lions, is another contender there.
33-year-old Ireland international Tadhg Beirne played off the bench in the opening two Tests against the Springboks in 2021 but has firmly underlined his Test starting credentials in the years since. He will aim to bring his tally up to five this summer.
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Robbie Henshaw has been on the last two Lions tours and though an injury before the Tests in 2017 ruled him out of involvement in that series, he started all three Tests in South Africa last time.
And there are plenty of others from 2021 who either weren’t capped in the Tests or only had one appearance – like Bundee Aki and Finn Russell – now hoping for a second shot at a Lions tour. Andrew Porter was injured before the Lions even left.
Of course, there will be a group of new Lions named for the first time tomorrow and some of them will go on to feature on subsequent tours in 2029 and 2034, and perhaps 2037.
Northampton and England flanker Henry Pollock only turned 20 in January. Alamy Stock Photo
Alamy Stock Photo
Who knows, the confident 20-year-old Henry Pollock might even back himself to make the 2041 tour when he will be 36.
22-year-old out-halves Fin Smith and Sam Prendergast have been among the candidates for Farrell to consider, while 24-year-old wing Tommy Freeman looks a certainty to tour and 24-year-old second row Joe McCarthy is in the mix.
Young players like versatile 23-year-old back Jamie Osborne and 22-year-old lock Dafydd Jenkins have been mentioned as possible tourists, but Farrell will surely look to include plenty of experience in his squad.
Some players in their mid-20s who are likely to be Test stars this summer, such as Dan Sheehan, will certainly hope they have at least one more Lions tour ahead in their careers.
But O’Driscoll and Jones’ achievement of being involved in four of these trips looks even more remarkable now.
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Furlong, Itoje, and the other possible multi-tour Lions
IT IS A marker of Brian O’Driscoll’s status as an all-time rugby legend that he was part of four Lions tours.
That kind of achievement takes a bit of luck, of course. There is a long history of badly-timed injuries denying players their well-earned chances to tour.
But there is no doubt about O’Driscoll’s credentials as a great Lion. He is one of only two players to have been on four tours in the professional era. Alun Wyn Jones of Wales is the other. Back in the amateur days, Willie John McBride and Mike Gibson went on five tours.
O’Driscoll was a three-Test star in Australia in 2001, had his series ended by injury in controversial circumstances in the first Test in New Zealand in 2005, suffered a second-Test injury in South Africa in 2009, and was infamously dropped for the final Test in Australia in 2013.
It would have been more but for the injuries, yet eight Test caps for the Lions was serious stuff from O’Driscoll.
Only two other players have racked up more Lions Test caps in the pro era.
Welsh second row Jones played in all 12 of the Lions’ Tests on the 2009, 2013, 2017, and 2021 tours. That is incredible durability and consistency.
English prop Mako Vunipola won nine Test caps across three tours in 2013, 2017, and 2021, another outstanding achievement.
Ireland scrum-half Conor Murray is equal with O’Driscoll, having played in eight Tests over the same three tours as Vunipola.
The great Paul O’Connell is just behind with seven Tests during his three Lions trips, while England’s Martin Corry and Matt Dawson also hit seven. Corry’s tally included a Test cap against Argentina in Cardiff in 2005 before departing for New Zealand.
Martin Johnson played in eight Tests for the Lions, although the first two of his caps came on the 1993 tour before the game turned professional. Jeremy Guscott also hit eight, but two of his three tours were in 1989 and 1993.
So, who of the still-active Lions might enter this impressive company on the 2025 Australia tour?
England second row Maro Itoje is expected to be named Lions captain tomorrow after Caelan Doris’ shoulder injury and looks certain to add to his six Test caps from 2017 and 2021, barring injury.
Itoje is only 30 and given his record of durability, he could make another Lions tour in 2029 but this summer’s series in Australia should see him level fellow Englishman Vunipola on nine Test caps.
36-year-old Murray plans to play on next season, so he remains eligible for the Lions. Andy Farrell has always been a big fan of Murray’s composure and class, yet it would be a big call to pick him ahead of other scrum-half options.
Some of Murray’s 2013 Lions squad-mates are still playing and have been discussed as possible tourists.
Among them is 33-year-old out-half/inside centre Owen Farrell, who already has six Test caps from the 2013, 2017, and 2021 tours.
Farrell was on the bench behind Johnny Sexton for the 2013 Tests but only came on in the third clash with the Wallabies. He started all three Tests in New Zealand in 2017, but only got two replacement appearances in the 2021 series before being dropped from the matchday 23 for the deciding Test against the Springboks.
Wales number eight Taulupe Faletau is another of the 2013 Lions tourists who remains on the scene and is seen as an outside shot at going this summer. Faletau has four Test caps from 2013, 2017, and 2021, although he got none on the most recent trip.
Tadhg Furlong played in all of the Lions’ last six Tests across the 2017 and 2021 series. The Irish tighthead has had an injury-troubled season, yet his longstanding quality means he looks certain to go this summer.
Furlong’s chances of adding to his Test caps seem high and he will back himself to reach nine by the end of the series. That would put him in elite company.
Furlong has started all of his six Test caps so far and backing him up on every occasion has been English tighthead Kyle Sinckler, who is now playing with Toulon so has been out of the national team. He remains eligible.
Courtney Lawes has been flagged as a repeat tourist, even if he is now 36 and playing in the French Pro D2 with Brive. The hard-hitting English flanker earned five Lions Test caps on the last two tours.
32-year-old versatile English back Elliot Daly hit the same tally on the 2017 and 2021 trips, with his return to the England team during the Six Nations putting him back in the shop window this year.
Among the fresh Lions faces from 2021, there are many hoping to hear their names read out tomorrow. Scotland wing Duhan van der Merwe – currently sidelined with an ankle injury but due to be back next month – started all three Tests in 2021, as did England back row Tom Curry.
Curry, who turns 27 next month, is nailed on to be named this time around and if his body can keep performing wonders in the face of the physical brutality he puts it through, he might end up among the most-capped Lions.
Ireland’s Jack Conan started the three Tests in 2021 and has been an important figure in Farrell’s Ireland set-up since, often impacting from the bench. He would have been in the mix anyway but after Doris’ injury, Conan has a good chance of being involved again.
England hooker Luke Cowan-Dickie featured in the three Tests in South Africa last time, starting the first two, and is among the options for Farrell in that position. His English team-mate Jamie George, also a three-Test Lions, is another contender there.
33-year-old Ireland international Tadhg Beirne played off the bench in the opening two Tests against the Springboks in 2021 but has firmly underlined his Test starting credentials in the years since. He will aim to bring his tally up to five this summer.
Robbie Henshaw has been on the last two Lions tours and though an injury before the Tests in 2017 ruled him out of involvement in that series, he started all three Tests in South Africa last time.
And there are plenty of others from 2021 who either weren’t capped in the Tests or only had one appearance – like Bundee Aki and Finn Russell – now hoping for a second shot at a Lions tour. Andrew Porter was injured before the Lions even left.
Of course, there will be a group of new Lions named for the first time tomorrow and some of them will go on to feature on subsequent tours in 2029 and 2034, and perhaps 2037.
Who knows, the confident 20-year-old Henry Pollock might even back himself to make the 2041 tour when he will be 36.
22-year-old out-halves Fin Smith and Sam Prendergast have been among the candidates for Farrell to consider, while 24-year-old wing Tommy Freeman looks a certainty to tour and 24-year-old second row Joe McCarthy is in the mix.
Young players like versatile 23-year-old back Jamie Osborne and 22-year-old lock Dafydd Jenkins have been mentioned as possible tourists, but Farrell will surely look to include plenty of experience in his squad.
Some players in their mid-20s who are likely to be Test stars this summer, such as Dan Sheehan, will certainly hope they have at least one more Lions tour ahead in their careers.
But O’Driscoll and Jones’ achievement of being involved in four of these trips looks even more remarkable now.
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andy farrell Lions Maro Itoje Owen Farrell Squad Tadhg Furlong Test Caps Tourists