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Lions tour 1989

The British and Irish Lions create history as they recover to beat Australia 2-1.

Sunday 21 April 2013 20:45, UK

Finlay Calder's side became the first in Lions history to win a series after losing the opening match as they defeated Australia 2-1.

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The Battle of Ballymore: Inside story behind the controversial 1989 Test

The second Test between the Lions and the Wallabies on July 8, 1989 remains one of the most controversial in more than 120 years of touring.

The Battle of Ballymore as it was aptly christened by the Australian press, is widely regarded as one of the most bruising encounters in the history of the game.

Victory over the soon-to-be world champions kept the tourists’ series hopes alive but it was perhaps the manner of the triumph that paved the way for victory in Sydney and the Lions’ crowning glory a week later.

The Lions lived up to their name, fighting tooth and nail and exerting their physical dominance over a Wallaby pack that had embarrassed them in the opening rubber just seven days earlier.

Sir Ian McGeechan’s men rattled their hosts both physically and mentally, never taking a backwards step as they demonstrated just how much the famous four union badge meant to this particular pride of Lions.

SETTING THE SCENE

The Lions may have started their first Tour of Australia as a solitary destination for 90 years in perfect fashion by winning their first six games Down Under but they were brought back down to earth with an almighty bump in the opening Test.

Beaten 30-12 by a rampant Wallaby XV, the Lions were second best in almost every department, particularly up front.

Outplayed and outmuscled, the Lions left Sydney licking their wounds as Australia scored four tries to none in a disappointingly one-sided contest.

Worse could have followed just three days later when the mid-week side trailed the ACT Brumbies at half-time in Canberra. Defeat in between the first two internationals would have spelled disaster for the mood within the Lions camp but Donal Lenihan and co conjured up a stunning second-half comeback that produced a 41-25 victory and kept the Tour on track.

Inspired by ‘Donal’s Donuts’, the Test team arrived in Brisbane determined to make a statement and they did just that.

It was a case of all change for the Lions as they looked to bounce back from a potentially demoralising defeat in Sydney a week earlier.

Coach McGeechan wasn’t afraid to alter his thinking and his personnel as he axed five players from the starting side beaten so comprehensively last time out.

In came Scott Hastings, Jerry Guscott and Rob Andrew in the backs and Wade Dooley and Mike Teague in the forwards, while out went centres Mike Hall and Brendan Mullin, fly-half Craig Chalmers, lock Robert Norster and blindside flanker Derek White. All five alterations would prove to be inspired choices.

Andrew had only been called up to the party following an injury to Ireland’s Paul Deans in the first game of the Tour but the Wasps playmaker proved his worth with a commanding display in Brisbane.

The two midfield changes also helped transform the Lions into a more dangerous side behind the scrum, while the switches within the forward pack were arguably even more crucial to second-Test success.

The Lions had been out-fought and out-thought by the Wallaby pack last time out but Dooley helped shore up the lineout and Teague provided a real edge in both defence and attack. The Gloucester flanker had been unavailable for the opening rubber due to injury but he more than made up for his initial absence with a sterling performance at Ballymore.

Scott Hastings’ promotion to join Gavin in the Test team meant the Lions featured a pair of brothers for the first time since 1910, while the introduction of Guscott, Andrew, Dooley and Teague took England’s representation to eight. That number may have been three short of the record tally from 1889 and later in 1993 but it was their largest contribution for 16 tours and 81 years.

In contrast to England’s dominance in selection, Ireland missed out on participation in the second-Test altogether. Only four Irishmen had been invited to tour in the first place and with Deans sent home early on, Lenihan leading the dirt trackers and Mullin losing out to Guscott, it was perhaps no surprise, if not a little disappointing, that the team for Brisbane featured just three of the four Home Nations.

In stark contrast to our modern-day tours, seven of the Test team appeared in the win over ACT the previous Tuesday, giving them just three-and-a-half days recovery before the second international. Guscott, Scott Hastings, Rory Underwood, Andrew and Dooley all started in Canberra, while Dai Young and David Sole came on as replacements.

The Wallabies stuck largely with the side that had started the series so brightly, with just two changes being made for part two of what they hoped would be an historic triumph over Britain and Ireland’s elite.

Ian Williams replaced his New South Wales team-mate Acura Niuquila on the right wing, while Mark Hartill, a replacement in the first Test, came in for Cameron Lillicrap at loosehead prop.

Having been battered and beaten in the opening Test, the Lions knew they would have to stand up and be counted if they were to keep the series alive ahead of the third and final encounter.

Captain Finlay Calder and his men didn’t disappoint, with diminutive scrum-half Robert Jones one of the leading figures in the Lions’ successful attempt to reassert their authority over a Wallaby side full of confidence.

Just a minute after kick off, Farr-Jones got ready to feed the ball into the first scrum. What happened next is etched in Lions folklore. Opposite number Jones sneakily stood on his rival’s foot and the Aussie skipper just snapped. As the two smallest men on the field came to blows, the Lions forwards piled in and battle commenced.

With referee Rene Hourquet attempting to separate the two number nines who had continued their scuffle on the deck, the Lions’ enforcers took advantage, waging war with the Wallaby pack and severely unsettling the hosts with a clear statement of intent.

Similarly robust confrontations occurred at regular intervals throughout the match, with Young later accused of stamping on the head of Australian lock Stephen Cutler in one of the most-controversial moments of the entire series.

There was no doubting who won most of the physical battles in Brisbane. The Lions imposed their will on the Wallabies and their physical prowess had a huge impact on the mental state of an Australian side not used to being ruffled up front.

Lions Tour documentary Two Sides receives rave reviews

But for all that is made of how this ‘one for all and all for one’ approach proved the decisive factor from the opening minute at Ballymore, the game wasn’t won until the final 10 minutes. In fact, the Lions actually trailed for the vast majority of the match and looked set for series defeat until a brace of late tries.

Australia led 12-6 at the break thanks an early converted score by full back Greig Martin – his second in successive weeks – and two Lynagh penalties compared to a single penalty from Gavin Hastings and an Andrew drop goal. The England fly-half narrowed the gap to three points with his first penalty of the day but the Wallabies were still 12-9 in front with just five minutes remaining.

It was only then, in the dying stages and with desperation creeping in, that the dominance of the Lions forwards brought their attacking rewards. Until that point, the Lions had kept their opponents largely at bay but that they hadn’t created enough chances to turn the series on its head.

But suddenly the Lions struck twice in a matter of moments as first Gavin Hastings and then Guscott touched down to put the game beyond Australia’s reach. Victory had been snatched from the jaws of defeat and the Lions were back on track.

WHAT THEY SAID

Mike Teague (Lions blindside):

“I would describe it as the most violent game of rugby that has ever been played. We can’t be seen to condone what went on, but needs must. There were some hard players on that tour; hard men and they all came together and sorted the job out.”

Robert Jones (Lions scrum-half):

“I don’t think I have ever been so wound up before a match, and that was before Finlay Calder’s special line in pre-match oratory which was likely to have you bursting with adrenalin for the first few minutes. I was aching to get grips physically with Farr-Jones.

“An opportunity came at the first scrum. There was nothing premeditated in the sense that I had decided exactly what to do beforehand, but I had gone out with the intention of doing something to unsettle him. It was a spur-of-the-moment decision to stand on his foot at the first scrum and push down. He came back at me, and within seconds there was a pretty lively punch up going on.

“Before the match, Finlay had emphasised that we were not to take a backward step, that we would tackle hard, put on physical pressure up front, ruck hard and drive the line-out. I knew that if there was any trouble, four men would come instantly to my assistance: Mike Teague, Paul Ackford, Wade Dooley and Dean Richards. And that is exactly what happened.

“The punch up set the tone for the match. Nick was very upset by the incident and kept chatting to the referee. The Australians in general were upset about our physical approach and it has to be said that things got quite brutal at times. It probably was the turning point of the match and the series. Nick Farr-Jones was distracted from his normal game and was not nearly as effective as he had been the week before.”

Finlay Calder (Lions captain):

“Everyone was a bit tense and it doesn’t take much for something to kick off. We were always going to get stuck in but I don’t believe it was premeditated. The smallest man on the field starts the fight, how often has that happened? But from that moment on I genuinely believe that the Test series was won. They just looked at us and thought to themselves: ‘I don’t fancy this lot.’”

Nick Farr-Jones (Australia scrum-half):

“I love Ian McGeechan and the “Battle of Ballymore” was great. Geech had worked it out and they won because of that. To say that it wasn’t premeditated is absolute nonsense. Robert and I may have instigated it but the Lions forwards piled in straight off. They knew what they were up to and we couldn’t match them. We were sort of shoulder barged out of the contest.

“I don’t gripe about it nor do I wake up at two in the morning in a cold sweat staring at the cracks in the ceiling, but there’s no denying it still crops up in my mind occasionally. In fact, it’s one of the biggest regrets of my career – that we didn’t win the series – and it all started there.”

Gavin Hastings (Lions full back):

“The consensus was that we would not take a backwards step and instead we took several forward steps with the first one coming from the right boot of Rob Jones who scraped his studs down Nick Farr-Jones’ shin while the Australian was putting the ball into a scrum. It was the weirdest thing. Farr-Jones retaliated and everyone just waded in. I scored the winning try that day but I don’t remember it because Farr-Jones had smacked me really hard.”

Paul Ackford (Lions lock):

“When Australians start whingeing about intimidatory tactics, then you know you’ve got them on the run.”

AUSTRALIA 12 BRITISH & IRISH LIONS 19

Scorers: Australia : Try – Martin; Con – Lynagh; Pens – Lynagh 2 Lions: Tries – Guscott, Hastings; Con; Andrew; Pens – Andrew, Hastings; Drop goal – Andrew

Australia: Greig Martin (Queensland); Ian Williams (New South Wales), Lloyd Walker (both New South Wales), Dominic Maguire (Queensland), David Campese (New South Wales); Michael Lynagh (Queensland), Nick Farr-Jones (New South Wales, captain); Mark Hartill (New South Wales), Thomas Lawton, Dan Crowley, William Campbell (all Queensland), Stephen Cutler (New South Wales), Jeffrey Miller (Queensland), Scott Gourley, Stephen Tuynman (both New South Wales)

British & Irish Lions: Gavin Hastings (London Scottish/Scotland); Ieuan Evans (Llanelli/Wales), Scott Hastings (Watsonians/Scotland), Jerry Guscott (Bath/England), Rory Underwood (Leicester/England); Rob Andrew (Wasps/England), Robert Jones (Swansea/Wales); David Sole (Edinburgh Academicals/Scotland), Brian Moore (Harlequins/England), Dai Young (Cardiff/Wales), Paul Ackford (Harlequins/England), Wade Dooley (Preston Grasshoppers/England), Mike Teague (Gloucester/England), Finlay Calder (Stewart’s Melville FP/Scotland), Dean Richards (Leicester/England)

Referee: Rene Hourquet (France)

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Bath Rugby legend Gareth Chilcott recalls the brotherhood and glory of the '89 Lions tour, and how he saved Dai Young's life...

The squad lost the first Test but went on to win the series Down Under

• 17:11, 15 JUN 2017
• Updated 17:53, 15 JUN 2017

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There are Lions tours and there are LIONS TOURS.

There are tourists and there are TOURISTS.

Gareth ‘Coochie’ Chilcott slots into the second category on both counts and, after liver disease almost killed him, the Bath Rugby legend is gearing up for another jaunt to the other side of the globe.

Chilcott is part of the 1989 "brotherhood" – the touring party to Australia which hammered their names into Lions lore by becoming the first and only bunch to lose the first Test and win the series.

Despite 28 years passing since that British and Irish collective won 11 out of 12 Down Under, the memories for Coochie are still lucid and fill him with joy, even the time he saved Dai Young from dying young in white water.

When they were selected for the ‘89 tour Chilcott, Andy Robinson and Jeremy Guscott become the first Bath Lions for 85 years.

Everyone has a story about how they find out and Chilcott, now 60, is no different.

"I was working for Johnson Press, for Malcolm Pearce, in Bath," he said, cutting a much slimmer figure than before his life-saving liver transplant last September.

“The whole warehouse staff was by the radio, just waiting. When my name came up there was a big cheer.

“I thought I was in with a shout because I was a loosehead who was playing tighthead for England, so I was versatile.”

There was one hitch, though, which was quite specific to the man in question.

“My disciplinary record, which was immense.”

He had been banned after the violent battle between England and Wales in Cardiff in 1987.

He had been banned for a year for stamping on Bristol’s Bob Hesford’s head and had four or five red cards to his infamous name.

“That was the big debate and, in later years, tour manager Clive Rowlands told me it was very much a split vote on whether or not they could take me.

“Luckily, they needed somebody who could get the job done in a certain way. It was a great honour.”

How do you bring together players from four nations, who had been knocking lumps out of each other for years, and meld them into a winning unit?

“The Five Nations before that Lions tour was a bit niggly. There was a bit of animosity and if there’s any animosity you won’t win games.

“The week before we left he made sure we socialised. There were lots of meetings down the boozer together.

“It was Ian McGeechan’s first tour and he brought in things like forwards and backs being paired off in the rooms, and you had to room with someone from a different country.

“Then every three days you would change. My first room-mate was Wales’ Robert Jones, then I had another scrum-half in Gary Armstrong.

“I couldn’t understand a word he said in Scottish and I don’t think he could understand my Bristolian.”

Chilcott also roomed with Ieuan Evans and Gavin Hastings, and by the end of the tour everyone knew everyone.

As a member of the social committee, the player known as the "shop steward" at Bath played a key role in making the squad tight.

“We didn’t go on these fluffy five-week tours. We went on the proper men’s tours – three plus months away from home.

“You became a British Lion rather than an Englishman, a Scotsman, a Welshman or an Irishman.

“It was a great family. Lions tours need that.

“Forget what happens on the pitch, it’s about how they do it off the pitch.”

His Lions debut was against Australia B, the second match of the tour, on a wet and windy day in Melbourne, which the Lions won 23-8.

“What I remember from that game, apart from the weather and the fact we won, was that when you went into the changing rooms your Lions shirt was hanging up there.

“Just to see it hanging up there you thought: ‘Wow, how lucky am I to be on a Lions tour’.”

Chilcott nearly missed the tour for reasons other than his disciplinary rap sheet.

He was playing for England against Romania in Bucharest – Guscott’s hat-trick scoring debut – when he felt a pain “like a gunshot” in his Achilles after ten minutes.

Treatment three times a day kept him together enough to travel Down Under, but he was not fit by the time the matches started and felt the injury all the way through the tour.

“On a modern day tour the doctor probably would have said: ‘We need somebody 100 per cent fit’.”

The First Test , Sydney, July 1, 1989

Chilcott was an unused substitute in the first Test in Sydney, missing out to future team-mate David Sole on the loosehead side and Young at tighthead.

The tourists were out-muscled and beaten 30-12, meaning the mid-week game against ACT, a handful of days later, became a make-or-break fixture.

“We had to win that game. The tour depended on it.”

A young Guscott showed his class in that 41-25 victory – the Lions trailed 21-11 – and they went the rest of the tour undefeated.

But Chilcott came off towards the end of the contest; his injury having flared up again.

It ended up costing him his chance to feature in the victorious Tests two and three.

For the rest of the tour, Coochie was a fully-fledged member of Donal’s Doughnuts, the mid-week side captained by Donal Lenihan who kept up the winning momentum.

“I know they had a meeting about whether to bring in a replacement for me.

“Then Clive came to me and said: ‘We want you to be part of the squad, but we can’t risk you in a Test match with an injury like that’.

“He said: ‘Can you promise me that you’ll get through every mid-week game from now on and not let me down, so I don’t have to risk Dai or David Sole?

“I said: ‘I’ll play every game even if you’ve got to take me on with crutches’.

“I did. That allowed me to stay on tour and we won all them games.

“The ironic thing was by the end of the tour I was full fit, I came back and had a really good season for Bath.”

The Second Test, Brisbane, July 8, 1989

When Jones stepped on his opposite number Nick Farr-Jones’ foot at a scrum it all kicked off into a mass brawl known as the Battle of Ballymore.

By the end of the game Wallabies Greg Martin, Steve Tuynman, Michael Lynagh and Farr-Jones had 25 stitches between them at the hands of the beefed-up Lions.

“I would have loved to have been involved in that. You know my record.

“We got bullied in the first Test a little bit, so we put out a more physical side to fight fire with fire.

“We needed a spark and Jonesy created that. We had most of the England pack and we turned into a big mauling side, which is the way we played with England."

A day after his 24th birthday, Guscott produced a moment of magic, scoring from his own grubber kick to seal a 19-12 victory.

British & Irish Lions 2017

The Third Test, Sydney, July 15, 1989

The teams were back in Sydney for the decider.

“We had so much confidence going into the third Test and the Australians didn’t have long to regroup.

“All the Tests were nip and tuck. The third one was in the balance until David Campese – and I still remind him every time I see him – tried an act of brilliance which didn’t go right.”

That act ended with the lethal winger throwing a wayward pass over his deadball line, which Evans pounced on for glory. Coochie was watching from the stands.

“There was jubilation. Test matches are often about a dropped ball, a missed tackle or a bit of brilliance.

“We had a good night and weekend celebrating but we still had a couple of games to go.”

Wins against New South Wales Country and the ANZAC XV capped off one of the most successful Lions tours of all time.

Coochie believes the achievement should get more acclaim than it does.

“It was a great tour but an unspoken tour in a way.

“It felt like the last one between real amateur and professional, and it feels like it’s been largely forgotten but it shouldn’t be.

“We’re the only side in Lions history to win a Test series after losing the first test.”

Chilcott couldn’t leave for New Zealand with his company, Venatour, without regaling the rafting incident involving the Wasps' director of rugby, Young.

The team were on a fast-flowing river and were told that if they capsized they should stick to the left to avoid a “boulder the size of a bus” that had a tunnel worn through it, from which a floating human was unlikely to emerge alive.

“We went over. We all went left but Dai was flung to the right and heading for disaster.

“I was the nearest man to him. He couldn’t swim and because he was quite big his life jacket didn’t fit properly.

“It was open and moving about. He was swimming like a brick rather than a fish and, just before he got to the boulder, me and an Australian pulled him to the left.

“I should have pushed him to the right and it might have been me playing those Test matches.”

The ‘89 Lions still get together for reunions almost 30 years later – without fanfare, without sponsorship and without media intrusion.

Only serious health problems – a liver transplant, for example – prevent all the old team-mates coming together en masse.

“Some of my dearest friends are people I met on that tour. We've stuck together as a brotherhood.

“I still adamantly believe playing for the British Lions is the highest honour you can achieve in the northern hemisphere, unless you’re French.

“You’re not just playing for England, you’re playing for Great Britain and southern Ireland. That has to be the ultimate.”

This weekend, Chilcott is flying out to New Zealand for the business end of a tour he never thought he would be well enough to make.

He’s enlisted the help of Bath Rugby president David Trick to host a tour party of 30 from Bath.

“I’m really looking forward to it. Six or seven months ago I was given two months to live.

“I never thought I’d get out of a hospital bed, but I have thanks to some fantastically-skilled surgeons at Kings College Hospital in London and the loving care of the nurses and my family and friends.

“I’m looking forward to meeting new people and old friends.

“You look at the game these days and I couldn’t even get the shirt on, let alone play.

“I hope they have the fun and comradeship we had on Lions tours.

“Rugby is all about confidence and momentum.

“This series is in the balance – we’ve won, lost two – but I think we will be competitive in the Test matches.

“Whether we’re skilful enough or tactically aware enough to beat the All Blacks remains to be seen.”

• British and Irish Lions
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British and Irish Lions 1989, where are they now?: in pictures

What became of the starting XV from the final Test of the last successful Lions tour of Australia.

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Why everyone should be rooting for Australia ahead of a Lions year

This is a British and Irish Lions season. The tour might not be taking place until 2025 but there is not a rugby player in the elite echelon who will not have had a momentary thought about being picked. I know of no player who has had that experience who does not share my view that the Lions is the most special of experiences.

Without descending into PR-speak, the lure lies in the delicious prospect of four countries combining to be greater than the sum of their parts. Do not underestimate the challenge of trying to mesh different styles of play and cultures into an effective playing machine. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. But because you can never predict which it will be, there is always the tantalising hope of success.

That said, a Lions tour must have high-class opposition for it to have validity and tours of South Africa and New Zealand have traditionally provided this without any debate. I went on the first Lions tour to Australia as a single destination in 1989. Given the ’89 Aussie team formed the basis of their 1991 World Cup-winning side, that tour can stand with any other as passing the credibility test. I am not sure the 2025 tour will be of the same standard.

The recent form of the Wallabies should be of major concern for the Lions and their supporters. Currently ranked ninth in the world and without success in the Super Rugby Pacific state tournament, it is difficult to see the host nation putting together the challenge needed. The tour will not lack for support and the broadcasters will produce the usual puffed-up publicity that majors on the Lions’ history and mystery but, ultimately, the real test is what happens on the field.

Everyone should pray for a major reversal in Australia fortunes, from the dismal low of their recent 62- 27 record loss to Argentina in the Rugby Championship. The Lions are now a commercially powerful organisation and will survive one sub-standard tour, not least because Australia is such a wonderful country to visit. It will not be good enough in the longer term and that might renew calls for them to look further afield in their sojourns.

Landmark deal to align English rugby

What would be the harm in every 12 years spreading the Lions magic to the Pacific Islands or South America, if the rugby challenge is no better Down Under? On the home front, it seems that peace has broken out at Twickenham, with the Rugby Football Union, Premiership and Rugby Players’ Association signing the eight-year Professional Game Partnership . Although governance excites nobody, do not underestimate the difficulty of putting together an agreement.

For the first time I can recall there has been a widespread welcome for it and from this base, English rugby must secure its short-term future. If you think this is assured, the recent redundancies at the RFU should remind you the current economic climate for English rugby is not simple.

What the PGP does not do is tackle fundamental challenges that, at some point, are going to have to be resolved for English rugby to move forward in the medium to longer term. Allowing a promoted Championship club four years to bring their ground up to Premiership standards will not remedy the inherent unevenness and commercial instability of at least three quarters of the Championship clubs. Nor will it secure them a broadcast deal which, from every broadcaster I have spoken to, is not even remotely on the horizon.

The agreement will not solve the frankly insane policy of allowing tiers two, three and four to pay their players the same amount as rugby league’s Super League, without the former having the latter’s crowds and both terrestrial and satellite broadcast deals.

The restructuring of the academy boundaries improves on what went before, but it does not guarantee that under-20 players will get the crucial match-game experience their counterparts get in other unions. It was a tremendous achievement for England to win the recent World Under-20 Championship, but how will that nascent talent be developed without a guaranteed pathway to first-team playing time? In the medium term there has to be further reorganisation of the RFU’s structure, with a focus on its council and the grass-roots game.

You cannot expect any organisation to cede day-to-day responsibilities to a 61-person body; it is too large and unwieldy. Furthermore, that body still consists of too many time servers, whose rise to the council is not based on their ability to contribute fresh and innovative ideas. The council needs younger, more able and more diverse people, and the search for these should start right now.

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VIDEO: Vignes' over-the-top scrum in '89 Lions tour 

EXPECT the unexpected.

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That was the mantra of the late NSW Country and former Wallabies coach Daryl Haberecht.

Winger Dwayne Vignes sat on the bench for the Wallabies and scored nine tries in 27 games for NSW, many on the opposite wing to Test great David Campese.

But that is not what earned the Coffs Harbour flyer worldwide notoriety. That came courtesy of the unorthodox genius of Haberecht.

Vignes, now 50, was at the centre of the infamous "Gallipoli" over-the-top scrum move by NSW Country against the British Lions at Newcastle's No. 2 Sportsground on July 19, 1989.

Devised along the same left-field line as Haberecht's "up the jumper" move and 14-man scrum, Vignes received the ball from halfback Rob Long, leapt on the back of his own forwards and then bounded across a startled Lions pack and down the other side.

"We had practised it and had it for two years before we actually used it," Vignes told the Newcastle Herald from Sawtell, where he operates a family service station business and played until he was 40.

"It was Daryl's last game in charge before retiring and the perfect stage.

"The forwards actually buggered it up. It was supposed to be slow ball, kept at the back of the scrum but it came straight out.

"When Rob Long picked it up, he had to wait a while for me to get to him.

"When I got to the other side, they caught me and did a barn dance on my head.

"David Kennedy was the referee. He was aware of the move. I still got penalised but then he reversed it after the treatment I received."

The Lions scored 14 tries in the 72-13 blitz but the game will always be remembered for Haberecht's outlandish ploy.

"Stu McFarlan was the fullback and he was supposed to be the one to do it," Vignes said.

"He hadn't practised it and I said 'well move over, I've done it'.

"We all had a laugh about it at the after-match function. Lions outside centre Scott Hastings reckoned I was crazy."

One of the most liked and respected figures in Australian rugby, Haberecht passed away in 1997.

In a match report featured in the Herald after the Lions game, the innovative mentor revealed he came up with the tactic during Country's tour of New Zealand the previous year.

"It was called Anzac because we practised it on Anzac Day but because we go over the top we changed it to Gallipoli," Haberecht explained in the article.

The Lions are back in Newcastle for tonight's clash against Combined Country at Hunter Stadium.

They trained at No. 2 Sportsground, which has undergone a $9 million transformation since the tourists' last visit but fans are unlikely to witness anything out of the Haberecht play book this time around.

"They wouldn't contemplate anything like that now," Vignes said. "It was all about trying to stretch the imagination.

"That is what Daryl was about - trying to catch the referees and the opposition off guard.

"The up-the-jumper try against Sydney, we scored a try with a 14-man scrum . . . he was left field.

"They were fun times."

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