We look back at all the professional era tours to see how often the British & Irish Lions lose pre-Test warm-up matches
While Test matches are what tends to go down in the rugby history books, games against club sides, Super Rugby franchises and specially assembled XVs are every bit as integral to a Lions adventure. But when was the last time the British & Irish Lions lost a warm-up game on tour?
Memories of the Lions’ recent warm-up defeat to Argentina in Dublin are still fresh, but their record in the southern hemisphere has tended to be very good – just as you’d expect of a team assembled from the very best players in England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales.
So, with this year’s British & Irish Lions fixtures including games against four Super Rugby franchises and two against invitational teams, we’ve looked back to see when the Lions last lost a warm-up game on tour. We’ve also cast an eye over all seven previous tours of the professional era to see how the Lions usually fare when they’re getting ready for those big Tests.
When was the last time the British & Irish Lions lost a warm-up match on tour?
The British & Irish Lions’ most recent defeat came in June 2025, when they lost 24-28 to Argentina in a pre-tour warm-up in Dublin.
You have to go back a little further for the Lions’ most recent defeat on tour. In the run-up to the Test series against the Springboks in 2021, Warren Gatland’s team lost 17-13 to a South Africa A team in Cape Town.
In many ways this felt like an unofficial fourth Test, with the South Africa XV featuring eight of the players who’d start for the Springboks 10 days later – including the superstar likes of Cheslin Kolbe, Eben Etzebeth, and two-time world player of the year Pieter-Steph du Toit. Having been 17-3 down at the break, the British & Irish Lions mounted a spirited second-half comeback, scoring 10 points without reply from a Wyn Jones try, and a penalty and a conversion from Owen Farrell. Ultimately, however, it was not enough to secure victory.
The last game the Lions lost on Australian soil was a 14-12 defeat to the Brumbies in June 2013.
How many warm-up matches do the British & Irish Lions usually lose?
As the graph below shows, the Lions have had an extremely high win percentage on their previous tours of the professional era.
While the Lions have never achieved a 100% record in the professional era, the 2009 Lions did go unbeaten during their warm-up games in South Africa. Their sole draw came in a midweek match against the Emerging Springboks.
Related: The full 2025 British & Irish Lions squad
Form in the warm-ups isn’t necessarily an indicator of what’s to come in the Tests, however.
That 2009 team went on to lose the Test series against the Springboks 1-2, while the 2017 Lions who drew against the All Blacks – widely regarded as one of the most talented squads this century – had the lowest win rate of the professional era.
It’s also worth noting that the Lions have never been thrashed in a warm-up game over the last three decades – in fact, if such things were handed out on tour, they’d always have claimed a losing bonus point.
Their biggest warm-up defeats since 1997 have been the 22-16 loss to the Blues in 2017, and the 19-13 loss to New Zealand Māori in 2005. When the Lions have lost, the average margin of defeat between 1997 and 2021 was a mere 3.86 points. Last month’s narrow loss to the Pumas in Dublin continued that trend.
Lions warm-up matches on previous tours
2021 (South Africa)
In a truncated schedule featuring just six warm-up matches, the Lions came out on top against Japan (at Murrayfield), the Lions, the Stormers and the Sharks (twice). Their sole warm-up loss was that 17-13 defeat to a South Africa A team in Cape Town.
- Number of warm-up matches: 6
- Warm-up record: W5 D0 L1
- Warm-up win percentage: 83%
- Test series result: Loss (1-2)
2017 (New Zealand)
While Warren Gatland’s squad were regarded as heroes for drawing the Test series against the All Blacks (their best result since the legendary 1971 team of Gareth Edwards and Willie John McBride) they only won half of their matches on tour. As well as the loss to the All Blacks, there were reverses against the Blues (22-16) and the Highlanders (23-22), and a draw against the Hurricanes. Victories came against the New Zealand Provincial Barbarians, the Crusaders, the Māori All Blacks, the Chiefs and, of course, the All Blacks.
- Number of warm-up matches: 7
- Warm-up record: W1 D1 L2
- Warm-up win percentage: 57%
- Test series result: Draw (1-1)
2013 (Australia)
The only Lions side to win a Test series this century started the 2013 tour with a five-match winning run against the Barbarians (in Hong Kong), the Western Force, the Queensland Reds, a Combined Country team and the NSW Waratahs. The ACT Brumbies sneaked a 14-12 win before Gatland’s team returned to winning ways in the first Wallabies Test, and also beat the now-defunct Melbourne Rebels.
- Number of warm-up matches: 7
- Warm-up record: W6 D0 L1
- Warm-up win percentage: 86%
- Test series result: Win (2-1)
2009 (South Africa)
The only Lions squad of the professional era to make it through their warm-up matches unbeaten got off to a spectacular winning start, beating a Royal XV, the Golden Lions, the Free State Cheetahs, the Sharks, Western Province and the now-disbanded Southern Kings. Their sole draw, against the Emerging Springboks, was sandwiched between two Test defeats to South Africa.
- Number of warm-up matches: 7
- Warm-up record: W6 D1 L0
- Warm-up win percentage: 86%
- Test series result: Loss (1-2)
The midweek team had a 100% record in New Zealand in 2005 – rather better than the Test team’s. (David Rogers/Getty Images)
2005 (New Zealand)
The 2005 tour is usually remembered for the whitewash in the Test series (and various on- and off-field controversies), but the warm-up games didn’t go badly at all. In fact, the midweek “dirt trackers” – who head coach Clive Woodward opted to manage separately from the Test team – came home with a 100% record. This Lions squad started out with a draw against Argentina (in Cardiff), and won against Bay of Plenty, Taranaki, Wellington, Otago, Southland, Manawatu and Auckland. Their sole warm-up defeat came against New Zealand Māori (19-13). On a Saturday.
- Number of warm-up matches: 9
- Warm-up record: W7 D1 L1
- Warm-up win percentage: 78%
- Test series result: Loss (0-3)
2001 (Australia)
If it wasn’t for a narrow defeat to Australia A (28-25), the 2001 Lions would have made it through to the second Wallabies Test with a clean sweep of Ws (against Western Australia, Queensland Preidents XV, the Queensland Reds, the NSW Waratahs, NSW Country and the ACT Brumbies). Two defeats to Australia ended the tour on a downer.
- Number of warm-up matches: 7
- Warm-up record: W6 D0 L1
- Warm-up win percentage: 86%
- Test series result: Loss (1-2)
1997 (South Africa)
The first tour of the professional era – and the first to South Africa since 1980 – ended in a famous Test series victory for the Lions. Before that, wins against an Eastern Province XV, Border, Western Province, Mpumalanga, Gauteng Lions, Sharks, the Emerging Springboks, Free State and Northern Free State were punctuated only by a defeat to Northern Transvaal (35-30).
- Number of warm-up matches: 10
- Warm-up record: W9 D0 L1
- Warm-up win percentage: 90%
- Test series result: Win (2-1)
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