No escaping the heat for Lions

British and Irish Lions team manager Andy Irvine has defended Warren Gatland’s decision to take the tourists to a beach resort ahead of the must-win third and final Test against Australia in Sydney.

The Lions return to training today for the first time since Saturday’s second Test, when the Wallabies levelled the series with a 16-15 defeat of Gatland’s side in Melbourne.

Instead of flying into Sydney to prepare in the city of the series decider, the Lions travelled from Melbourne to Noosa in Queensland, hundreds of miles north of the third Test venue.