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6th August 2025
04:55pm BST
The third Test in the recent Lions Tour was unique to say the least, with a 38 minutes pause in the game due to thunder and lightning.
Australia led 8-0 going into the enforced break, and finished the game as 22-12 winners.
The scoreline coupled with changing room footage during the hold up, led to criticism directed towards the Lions for their apparent lack of preparation.
In response to this, head coach Andy Farrell rubbished the notion.
He said: “That’s completely utter rubbish. Utter rubbish.
“You don’t know until you know and when you do know you have to agree the warm-up time allocated is going to be acceptable to both teams.
“We agreed on 10 minutes for the warm-up and through our advice from our experts in that field we only made the call to come out five minutes before and stay out there so that we would be ready to go.
“Rigor mortis was setting in at one stage there for the lads. I suppose that is what you come to expect with a schedule like the Lions schedule. We have seen it all now haven’t we.
“We were trying to work out what the rules were and what was going to happen, at one stage it looked like it was going be 45 minutes, then it was pulled back to 30 minutes.
“There were updates constantly coming in, but the lads stayed relaxed enough, had five minutes of a warm-up and got the show back on the road. What came off the back of that is Australia hit the ground running and thoroughly deserved their win.”
In the Lions' latest behind-the-scenes video on their YouTube channel, it is clear from the footage that the players believed there was more time left in their break, confirming what Farrell said after the game.
Head of performance Aled Walters can be seen informing players, who have been relaxing, that they have about ten minutes left in the changing room and then six or seven minutes out on the pitch.
While others seemed jovial, Jack Conan can be seen asking, "has the 30 minutes" started yet, with a perplexed look on his face.
He is referencing World Rugby's lightning safety guidelines, which state: "Shelter should be sought when there are 30 seconds or less between the flash and the associated thunder clap.
"Thunderstorms have a tendency to reverse course and come back over an area that that they have just passed. Recommendations on best practice also state that it should only be considered safe to return to the field of play a minimum of 30 minutes after the final flash of lightning or clap of thunder has been seen/heard."
Obviously, there had not been clear communication between the players and the officials over the time they had before the match resumed.
Regardless, Joe Schmidt had his Aussie side more prepared for the scenario which unfolded.
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