Alun Wyn Jones to next Lions: 'Go as hard as hell, it's a special privilege'

Lion’s Alun Wyn Jones and Maro Itoje after the game. Picture: INPHO/Dan Sheridan

In the midst of all the disappointment experienced by the 2021 British & Irish Lions on Saturday night as the reality of a lost Test series began to hit home, Alun Wyn Jones gathered his men on the pitch at Cape Town Stadium and issued his final order as tour captain.

The four-time tourist had been on the field at Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria in 2009 when a Springbok debutant by the name of Morne Steyn had delivered the fatal blow to the Lions’ hopes of staying alive in the series and the Welshman had to swallow the same bitter pill as the replacement fly-half, now 37, repeated the trick a dozen years later.