Ireland’s Ronnie Dawson led the side from hooker, while England’s Peter Jackson added 19 tries to O’Reilly’s 21. Sale three-quarter WM Patterson joined half-backs JP Horrocks-Taylor and AA Mulligan as a late recruit, with Patterson becoming the only uncapped member of the squad. The Lions called up three replacements during their time on tour, all of them backs. O’Reilly’s total of 37 tries across two tours remains a Lions record, with no one since coming remotely close to matching his achievement. Having crossed the whitewash 16 times in 15 games in South Africa in 1955, the Irish sensation scored a further 21 tries in 21 games in 1959. Tony O’Reilly secured his place in Lions folklore as he continued his remarkable try-scoring exploits of four years earlier. Only the heroes of 1974 came close to matching their tally of 842. The 1959 Lions scored more points than any other Lions squad in history. The Lions arrived in Australia three years after Melbourne hosted the Olympics the same year that Darwin was granted city status, formal construction on the Sydney Opera house began and Donald Bradman retired and a year before Australia’s worst aircraft disaster. In the year that the Lions returned to Australia for the second time in a decade, Queen Elizabeth II was seven years into her reign Dwight Eisenhower was three-quarters of the way through his time as American President Fidel Castro names himself Cuba’s leader Val Kilmer, Vic Reeves and Morrissey were born but Frank Lloyd Wright and Buddy Holly both passed away Britain starts using post codes the first Barbie was sold Alaska became the 49th US state Elvis made his first entry on the UK charts with Heartbreak Hotel and the very first section of UK motorway was opened. The Lions played two more games in Canada before heading home, taking their total number of fixtures to 33 in close to four months. The tourists outscored the Kiwis four tries to nil in the first Test but lost out to six Don Clarke penalties. History shows that the tourists impressed against provincial opposition and the All Blacks but they were beaten 3-1 in the Test series thanks to fine New Zealand kicking and a lack of firepower up front. The Lions went on to play a further 25 games in New Zealand, winning 20 and losing five.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. Archives
January 2023
Categories |