Stephen Jones makes brutal Kiwi call, suggesting the ‘charitable institution’ Lions ‘should not go to New Zealand in 2029’
The All Blacks perform the haka before their 2017 Test versus the Lions in Auckland
Veteran rugby writer Stephen Jones wrapped up his commentary on the 2025 British and Irish Lions tour in Australia by claiming they should not tour New Zealand as planned in 2029.
Writing in The Sunday Times following the conclusion of the Lions’ 2-1 Test series win over the Wallabies, Jones explained why it was high time that the famed quadrennial tourists should shelve the current tour roster.
That would see them bin the planned three-Test series against the All Blacks, with Jones instead suggesting the Lions brand would be better served by organising a trip to France in 2029 that would also include two matches elsewhere in Europe – away to Italy and an emerging nation – to help better promote the sport of rugby.
He also added that after a delayed visit to New Zealand in 2033, four years after they are originally pencilled in to go, the Lions should cut loose again and embark on a tour of the Americas in 2037.
‘Why plod wearily along the same routes?’
That radical idea would dramatically alter the current schedule, where the Lions are due in South Africa in 2033 and Australia in 2037.
Claiming that Lions tours have “saved” the host unions of Australia, New Zealand and South Africa “from financial disaster” in recent times, Jones wrote in the Sunday Times: “Why can the Lions not make their own decisions?
“Why do they have to plod wearily along the same routes? Surely it’s up to the host unions to balance their own books. The Lions have been a charitable institution for way too long.
“They should change. They should not go to New Zealand in 2029, or, at least, they should debate the issue first,” he continued, adding how disappointed he was to learn that the Lions were already nailing down contracts for that tour. “It is time to move on.”
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Jones then explained why he wants the Lions to tour France, “the modern-day capital of the rugby world”, in 2029. “A tour to France would also balance so many books in so many areas that the traditional hand-to-mouth existence of many rugby bodies would be a thing of the past.
“How would you move things around to accommodate a Lions tour of 10 matches? My thought would be that the sagging European Cup competitions could be shelved in any Lions year, giving six weeks back to play with.
“And would it really be impossible for all international games, bar the Six Nations, to be canned in a Lions year? It is not impossible to imagine the Lions touring in France – with a three-Test series plus a fixture list outside the Test matches of mighty import; the Lions versus Toulouse or Bordeaux Begles, for example, would pack out the grounds.”
Jones added that the whole tour shouldn’t take place in one country either. “If they played a tour in France, then they really should kick off either in Italy or in one of the emerging nations, such as Spain or Germany, to boost the image and importance of the game clean out of sight. Eight games in France, two games elsewhere.”
He concluded: “If I could be in charge of world rugby – and be honest, what could be better for the modern game? – I would put France down as a venue for four years; then it could be judged that New Zealand deserve a spot and deserve a visit four years after that.
“And then, the Lions should strike out again. In eight years, the United States will have staged their own World Cup and even that gigantic and frustrating country might find that its rugby has been boosted out of sight.
“So why not have the Lions touring the Americas? They could play a three-match tour against the deserving Pumas, who put the Lions to the sword in Dublin before this trip. Argentina is a magnificent rugby country and a magnificent nation to visit. They deserve way more inbound tours, and they deserve the Lions.”
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