Shocking Sydney conditions forced the British & Irish Lions and Wallabies players from the field at the beginning of the second half of Australia’s third Test victory with play halted for nearly 40 minutes due to lightning.

Play had already been stopped with the score 8-0 to Australia after a sickening collision between James Ryan and Will Skelton which saw the Ireland lock stretchered off after he appeared to be instantly knocked out while going low on his 6ft 8in opponent.

Read more: How to watch the British & Irish Lions third Test wherever you are

Lions Third Test delayed by lightning

As Ryan was leaving the pitch, referee Nika Amashukeli led both sets of players off the field at 21.12 local time (12.12 UK) due to two lightning strikes within 10km of the Accor Stadium, which impacted another three rugby league matches in the New South Wales area too.

While the players were off, there were multiple pitch invaders who were clearly unperturbed by the adverse weather conditions. They might be slightly more concerned by the $5,500 Australian Dollars they will be fined – a fee that was announced over the PA system to warn off more copycats.

The Lions were seen throwing a towel over their changing room camera during the interlude. When some footage did emerge Tadhg Furlong could be seen reclining on a big red bean bag.

Australia re-emerged after 28 minutes to start warming up and the Lions joined them a few minutes later before play restarted at 21.50pm (12.50pm) after a lighting-enforced delay of 38 minutes.

The scenes in Sydney echoed those in Washington DC in England’s final summer tour match against the USA when three lightning delays caused havoc to proceedings. The beginning of that match – which England eventually won 40-5 , their third straight win of the summer after beating Argentina 2-0 – was delayed by an hour after two strikes in the area.

And then another flash caused a halt to proceedings in the 29th minute.

The third Lions Test had already been a very fiery contest for what is effectively a dead rubber in terms of the series, after the Lions pulled off a miracle at the MCG, coming back from 18 points down to establish an unassailable 2-0 lead last weekend.

Will Skelton and Nic White, who left the stage after 58 minutes to a large applause on his final appearance before retiring,  were the chief agitators at the Wallabies got right under the Lions’ skin and eventually went on to win 22-12.

The tourists were not helped by the loss of captain Maro Itoje who left the field inside half an hour and failed his HIA so was unable to return with compatriot Ollie Chessum taking his place in the engine room. Jac Morgan came on for Ryan after the delay and Tadhg Beirne moved forward to the second row.

Australia lost fly-half Tom Lynagh for the same reason although replays appeared to show Lions hooker Dan Sheehan making contact with his head at a ruck which is sure to cause plenty of discontent after the Jac Morgan clearout debate in the final play last weekend caused so much angst in Australian quarters.

Download the digital edition of Rugby World straight to your tablet or subscribe to the print edition to get the magazine delivered to your door.

Follow Rugby World on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter/X.