Ex-All Black: Not one British and Irish Lion would make a World XV
British and Irish Lions captain Maro Itoje and an inset of ex-All Blacks forward Murray Mexted.
Former All Blacks forward Murray Mexted would not pick a single British and Irish Lions player in a current World XV.
Andy Farrell’s charges won all but one of their matches on tour in Australia, losing the final Test against the Wallabies, having wrapped up the series a week prior.
The Lions set a clear goal of a series ‘redwash’ but fell short of the mark after being outplayed in the series finale.
Not since the 1974 tour to South Africa have the men in the famous red jersey gone unbeaten on tour or won a series 3-0, and despite falling just one game short of greatness in 2025, Mexted still believes that this wasn’t a very good Lions team.
3-0 would have been a ‘disgrace’
In fact, he believes that it would have been disgraceful on the Wallabies‘ part had Farrell’s team won the final Test match.
“The Wallabies won 60 minutes of the second Test, and they looked the better side [in the third]. I actually don’t think that this Lions team is very good,” he told the DSPN podcast with Martin Devlin.
“People are trying to sell to us that they are, and the Lions themselves are too and had they won 3-0, it would have been a bloody disgrace for Australian Rugby, quite frankly.”
While the likes of Dan Sheehan, Tom Curry, Tadhg Beirne and Maro Itoje impressed during the series and have done so at the highest level for several seasons, Mexted still doesn’t believe that any one of them would warrant a place in a hypothetical World XV.
“There are a couple of things here. What is the level of the Australian rugby team at the moment? And that’ll give you sort of a gauge on what this Lions side is, and then think about how many of those Lions players would make a World XV?
“If you named a World XV which included players from South Africa and New Zealand and everywhere else for that matter… how many of those Lions players would make it? I’ve looked at the team two or three times and I can’t see one of them.”
Stunned by the claim, show host Devlin interjected, saying, “Itoje, come on, surely?”
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Mexted, stood by his take: “In the second Test, you didn’t see him in the first half at all. He was dominated in the first half, he disappeared from the game when the momentum came about halfway through the second half, he popped up and did a few things for sure. Third Test, well, we didn’t see him, did we? He left after a few minutes.
“You can’t tell me that you put Itoje in over the South African locks and even the New Zealand locks. Would you put Itoje in the same category as Barrett?”
Devlin replied: “Yes. Over a period of his career where he’s been ultra consistent, I think he’s one of the best in the world. No question about it.”
Itoje is not better than four Springboks
But the former All Black persisted: “Well okay, but he is not in the same category, quite frankly, as a Whitelock, Retallick or about four of the best locks in South Africa. What I’m saying is name a world XV and tell me which of those Lions players would make it, and I don’t reckon anyone would.
“It’s our opinion, of course and in my opinion, they are not a great team, and I think the Wallabies are the weakest they have been for a long time. They grew up in that last Test match, and it’s absolutely fantastic that they did.
“This is what is so good about a Lions tour, not only does it generate a whole bunch of interest and enthusiasm from the local team, it’s also the periphery of the local team, talking about the supporters, spectators, wives, girlfriends, partners, all those sorts of people because you can’t say that this Lions tour hasn’t created incredible environment in Australia.”
