The following article is an extract from 'The British & Irish Lions: The Official History 2025 Tour edition'.

1971

CARWYN'S CELEBRATION

Because of the damage done in Christchurch, the Lions were left with what were considered their second-string props, Ian McLauchlan and Sean Lynch, for the first Test, but, as so often happens, they more than rose to the occasion and played superbly in all the Tests, to make a reputation for themselves as fine players. The Lions were, unusually, to play six Welshmen and an Irishman, Gibson, in their back division in that first Test.

The All Blacks included six new caps and, therefore, in the last five matches had played 33 players, a sure sign of an unsettled side. Nevertheless, they attacked the Lions from the start, only for the Lions to score first, entirely against the run of play, when McLauchlan charged down a clearance kick by Alan Sutherland in his own 25 and stormed on to score what was not only a crucial try but his only one of the Tour. McLauchlan recalled in an interview years later:

I saw the ball going back. John Bevan made the break and came inside. I thought he'd dropped the ball forward but New Zealand had picked it up and played it. Alan Sutherland was standing inside his 25 and somehow he took about a fortnight to wind his leg back to kick the ball and, by that time, I'd charged down his kick. The ball just bounced nicely and I popped it down for my first international try.

As I walked back I thought it was a knock-on, so I wasn't that euphoric. But afterwards was a phenomenal feeling. The try has to be a highlight looking back, but I don't remember that much about it to be honest.

During the Tour the fact that we beat all the provinces quite easily gave us a real belief for the first Test. That first Test was probably the most intense game I have ever played in, but at the same time we won it, which set the seal on the Tour. If we'd lost that game, New Zealand would have grown in stature.

The dressing-room afterwards was measured and tempered. There was a feeling of relief that we'd won the first Test. The boys were happy and content with the result, but we knew that it was only the start - that New Zealand would come again very hard in the second Test. And of course, the second Test was in Canterbury where they had never lost a Test match before.

A minute from half-time in the first Test, McCormack equalised with a penalty. In the space of a few moments, McLauchlan himself acknowledged that he had made the jump from 'Mickey' to 'Mighty Mouse', by which pseudonym he thereafter became known. The Lions had lost Edwards with a leg injury early in the half, and he was replaced by his admirable deputy Chico Hopkins. In the second period, John kicked two penalties in the 12th and 36th minutes to win the match 9-3.

Beaten in the lineouts, the Lions had done well in the scrummaging, and a big feature of the match was the way that John tortured and tormented McCormack with his kicking for the corners, which saw him floundering and dropped for the subsequent Tests.

Willie John still recounts how he sat in the dressing-room afterwards, wondering how on earth they had won as, for much of the game, the Lions were simply not in it. It did wonders for the Lions' morale, for they had shown that the All Blacks could be beaten and they were no longer afraid of them. It also did Willie John a power of good, for he had previously played nine Tests for the Lions and had never won before.