2017 British & Irish Lions tour to New Zealand

Tour manager John Spencer announced an initial squad of 41 on 19 April 2017, made up of 16 players from England, 12 from Wales, 11 from Ireland and 2 from Scotland.[8]

Ben Youngs was initially selected in the squad but withdrew on 6 May for personal reasons.[9]

Billy Vunipola withdrew from the squad on 21 May after suffering a shoulder injury while playing for his club Saracens.[10]

On 17 June, six players – Kristian Dacey, Gareth Davies, Allan Dell, Tomas Francis, Cory Hill and Finn Russell – were added to the squad to provide cover during mid-week games ahead of the test series.[11] Ross Moriarty was ruled out of the tour after an injury sustained against the New Zealand Provincial Barbarians.[12]

On 29 June, Robbie Henshaw and George North were ruled out of the remaining games after sustaining injuries against the Hurricanes.[13]

Jared Payne was ruled out of the final game due to concussion.[14]

Notes: Ages listed are as of the first tour match on 3 June. Player positions are per the Lions' website.[15] Bold denotes that the player was selected for a previous Lions squad. Italic denotes a player that withdrew from the squad following selection.

On 30 July 2014, former English international player John Spencer was named the Lions' tour manager.[16]

On 7 September 2016, Warren Gatland was confirmed as the Lions' head coach and named his assistants on 7 December 2016 – Steve Borthwick, Andy Farrell and Rob Howley.[17] Howley was on his fifth tour, having previously toured as a player (1997 and 2001) and coach (2009 and 2013). Borthwick was making his first tour as a Lions coach and Farrell was on his second, after being part of the coaching staff in 2013.

New Zealand's 33-man squad for their Pasifika Challenge match against Samoa and their three-test series against the British & Irish Lions.[19]

Liam Coltman, Vaea Fifita, Jack Goodhue, Akira Ioane and Matt Todd were also named in the squad as injury cover.

Following concussion to Ben Smith in the first test, Damian McKenzie was added to the squad as cover for Ben Smith.[20]

On 3 July, Malakai Fekitoa was called up as a replacement for Sonny Bill Williams who was suspended after a red card in the second test.[21]

All squad members play rugby in New Zealand.

Coaching team:

• Head coach: Steve Hansen
• Attack coach: Ian Foster
• Forwards coach: Mike Cron
• Defence coach: Wayne Smith

Note: Ages, caps and clubs as per first test match, 24 June 2017.

As well as the test series, the Lions played tour matches against New Zealand provincial teams. For the first time since the establishment of Super Rugby, this included playing all five of New Zealand's Super Rugby teams. The current form of the Super Rugby teams made this tour arguably one of the toughest undertaken by a British & Irish Lions team.[22]

The Lions arrived in New Zealand just two days before their first match against a Provincial Barbarians team.[23] The Barbarian team was made up of players on the fringe of New Zealand Super Rugby teams,[24] and included Bryn Gatland, son of Lions coach Warren Gatland.[25] The Barbarians led 7–3 at half time, before Anthony Watson scored for the visitors to give them the lead with 30 minutes to go. They held on to open the tour with an unconvincing 13–7 victory.[26]

The next match was four days later against the Blues, an Auckland-based Super Rugby franchise. The Lions led 16–15 with 10 minutes remaining before a Sonny Bill Williams break and offload to Ihaia West led to the match-winning try.[27] A try-less 12–3 victory over the Crusaders in Christchurch followed. This was the first time the Crusaders had lost in 2017.[28] It was another close game against the Highlanders, and Marty Banks from the Otago-based side kicked the winning penalty with six minutes remaining.[29]

The next match was against the Māori All Blacks, a team made up of players with Maori ancestry. A strong squad was named, with nine players with All Black caps selected.[30] The Lions beat the Maori team with ease in what was predicted to be the toughest match before meeting the All Blacks.[31][32] The convincing 32–10 victory[32] was followed up three days later as they put another dominant display against the Chiefs in Hamilton, winning 34–6.[33] The final mid-week game against the Hurricanes was played after the first All Black test match. The Hurricanes came from behind to secure a 31–31 draw in Wellington.[34]

New Zealand were favourites, coming into the first test match having won 46 tests in a row at home and undefeated at Eden Park in 23 years.[35] Peter O'Mahony was named Lions captain by Warren Gatland for the first test. Sam Warburton lost his position to Seán O'Brien, making him the first tour captain not to play in the first test in 87 years.[36] Apart from a new-look back three of Anthony Watson, Liam Williams and Elliot Daly, Gatland picked a predictable squad.[35] So too did All Blacks coach Steve Hansen, his only surprise being the elevation of 20-year-old Rieko Ioane for his first start over the veteran winger Julian Savea.[37]

The first test was a close match during the first half, Codie Taylor's try for the All Blacks being matched by one from the Lions' Seán O'Brien, and the home side led 13–8 at the break; however in the second half Rieko Ioane's two tries took the game away from the Lions, with Rhys Webb's try bringing the score back to 30–15.[38][39]