1989 British Lions tour to Australia

After not touring for six years due to the sporting boycott of South Africa, the British Lions undertook its first sole tour of Australia since 1899.^[5] Since their 1955 tour of South Africa, the Lions had regularly toured their traditional Southern Hemisphere rivals (Australia, New Zealand, South Africa) between two, three, and four year phases. The Lions' previous tour, 1983, was their first sole tour of New Zealand. 1983, just like their prior two tours (1980, 1977) were both unsuccessful,^[6] which led expectations to be modest going into the 1989 tour.^[7] With increasing club commitments and skepticism from media and administrators about its future, the Lions tour concept itself had faced declining relevance.^[8]

The Lions suffered a 30–12 defeat in the first test in Sydney on 1 July, then their heaviest defeat by Australia.^[9] In this first test, Australia scored four tries, and flyhalf Michael Lynagh kicked 5 from 6. For the second and third tests, changes included Mike Teague, recovered from injury, at blindside flanker; Rob Andrew replacing Craig Chalmers at fly-half; and Jeremy Guscott and Scott Hastings coming into the centre positions. The team became the only Lions team ever to come from 1–0 down to win a series, winning the second test in Brisbane 19–12 and the third test in Sydney 19–18.^[10][11] The Lions completed their tour with a victory of a combined ANZAC team. Teague was named player of the series.

Results

Further information: History of rugby union matches between Australia and the British & Irish Lions

More information Date, Home team ...

Date	Home team	Score	Away team	Result	Venue	Ref
10 June	Western Australia	0–40	British Lions	Won	Perry Lakes Stadium, Perth, Western Australia
14 June	Australia B	18–23	British Lions	Won	Olympic Park Stadium, Melbourne, Victoria	[12]
19 June	Queensland	15–19	British Lions	Won	Ballymore Stadium, Brisbane, Queensland	[13]
21 June	Queensland B	6–30	British Lions	Won	Barlow Park, Cairns, Queensland
24 June	New South Wales	21–23	British Lions	Won	North Sydney Oval, North Sydney, New South Wales	[14]
27 June	New South Wales B	19–39	British Lions	Won	Apex Oval, Dubbo, New South Wales	[15]
1 July	Australia	30–12	British Lions	Lost	Sydney Football Stadium, Moore Park, New South Wales	[9]
4 July	Australian Capital Territory	25–41	British Lions	Won	Seiffert Oval, Queanbeyan, New South Wales	[16]
8 July	Australia	12–19	British Lions	Won	Ballymore Stadium, Brisbane, Queensland	[10]
15 July	Australia	18–19	British Lions	Won	Sydney Football Stadium, Moore Park, New South Wales	[11]
19 July	New South Wales Country	13–72	British Lions	Won	No. 2 Sportsground, Newcastle West, New South Wales
23 July	ANZAC XV	15–19	British Lions	Won	Ballymore Stadium, Brisbane, Queensland	[17]

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