Try-a-match: Tony O’Reilly

NOT only did this era (1954-59) include two of the greatest ever Lions tours - 1955 to South Africa and 1959 to New Zealand - those epic trips and the rugby they produced arguably established the true Lions ethos.
In the early days the Lions parties were rarely selected strictly on merit - more important was the ability to absent yourself from work or University for six months - and in the 20th century not only had they failed to win a gala series against New Zealand or South Africa, they had also often failed to capture the public’s imagination and...