When are we going to conquer the Antipodes?

IT’S THE same question every year. As sure as Cork and Kerry will produce a draw in the Munster football championship, we speculate as to who from the home nations is capable of producing any kind of a win on the annual summer sojourns to the southern hemisphere.

The answer is invariably the same – no one. Only by widening the net to include our European neighbours France do we start to entertain some positive vibes. Last weekend, the various tour squads representing England, Ireland, Wales, Scotland and France were presented with their bags of free kit to launch another end-of-season excursion. Unfortunately, for some of the players, that will be the highlight of their experience.

It is a terrible indictment of rugby on this side of the world that since Jonny Wilkinson dropped ‘that’ goal to win the World Cup for England against Australia seven years ago, the home countries have failed to register a single victory down under in 25 subsequent tests. Sadly the Lions haven’t fared much better, winning just one of their six tests played since England’s triumph and even that, it could be argued, was against the Springbok reserve side in the third test in Johannesburg last July, with the series already in the bag.