It’s madness that the British and Irish Lions are considering taking future tours to France, Japan or the USA, especially France.
French rugby is already the financial powerhouse of northern hemisphere rugby, so why would the home unions want to make it even richer?
Lions tours are money making machines for the countries that host them. Handing the French a new multi-million pound financial boost would only widen the gap between their national team, the Top 14 and the rest of European rugby.
Just look at how the Lions tour to Australia helped turn round the financial fortunes of their governing body.
Rugby Australia generated AU$262.2m (£139m) in revenue last year, driven largely by the 2025 Lions tour.
Matchday income alone brought in AU$146m (£78m), helping Rugby Australia swing from a AU$36.8m (£19.5m) deficit to a record AU$70.6m (£37.42m) surplus.
Now imagine French rugby, which is already overflowing with cash, receiving a new £78m injection.
Yes, it would only come around every 12 or 16 years, but that money could be spread across multiple seasons, strengthening academies, player pathways and club spending power in a transfer market France already dominates.
And the worrying thing is this is no longer just speculation. The Lions committee have asked various business and sporting consultancies to look at touring other countries outside Australia, New Zealand and South Africa.
One long-established London-based broadsheet newspaper is so excited at the prospect of the Lions touring France - the first could be in 2033 - that they went as far as putting together a ten-match schedule for them.
It included games against club sides Bordeaux-Begles, Bayonne, Toulouse, Clermont, Castres and Toulon. The first of the three Test matches would be held in Marseille, the other two in Paris, according to them.
If the English media has gone as far as putting together a fixture schedule for a France tour, you would assume Lions officials would have as well.
Now I know some rugby fans will be thinking I am putting my concerns over France becoming an even more dominant force ahead of the possibility of an exciting new Lions tour being played not that far away.
After all, as a rugby fan travelling round France in the middle of a long, hot summer watching the Lions take on the best of the French sounds like heaven. The Lions against Castres at the Allianz Stadium in Nice, for example, would be a magnificent occasion.
Getting to France won’t cost as much as getting to Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, and the atmosphere would be fantastic.
I accept these are huge positives, but they will come at the cost of strengthening French rugby in the areas I have mentioned.
Also, if you want to watch rugby in France, why not go there and take in a French league match? Or when Edinburgh Rugby or Glasgow Warriors draw a French side in the Champions Cup?
I am sure many of you have been to Paris to watch Scotland take on France in the Six Nations.
I bet a lot of Scottish rugby fans have been there, done all of that, and a Lions tour to France won’t be that much different for them.
Breaking with tradition and touring a country outside Australia, South Africa and New Zealand isn’t pie in the sky for the Lions as calling in business and sporting consultancies to discuss the issue shows despite it being a crazy idea.
The Lions are not the Harlem Globetrotters. They are built on history and tradition and it should stay that way, based on touring the three nations they always have.
There have been one-off Lions matches before tours, such as their game against Japan at Murrayfield in 2021. These can be fraught with danger, as that game showed. Lions captain Alun Wyn Jones dislocated his shoulder seven minutes into the match and missed most of the tour to South Africa.
The Lions are serious about touring other countries to the extent the consultancy firm has been asked to “validate and confirm the preferred operating model and approach for the period beyond 2029.”
New Zealand will host that tour in 2029, but the Lions have asked the consultancy firm that they want to "learn how they can expand their value and awareness further into new audiences, potentially in new territories,” adding that the current format, commercially, “might be coming close to maximising the return”.
They are seeking an “analysis of which locations around the world could potentially host future tours (men and/or women), with a view to increasing commercial return and fan engagement (whilst not damaging the core DNA), from our preferred markets (existing Sanzaar nations, France, Americas and Japan)”.
To start with, even contemplating the USA is ridiculous and will only be done to promote and sell the Lions brand there.
Even if they turned it into a North American team - the USA team alone would be canon fodder for the Lions- and included the best Canadian players as well, they would still be easily beaten by the Lions.
The same goes for Japan. Their national team would struggle to beat Scotland, England, Ireland and Wales individually, let alone a side made up of the best from all the countries. They would have to be allowed to pick the best players from their national Japanese leagues, regardless of nationality. Scotland back-row Jack Dempsey is joining a Japanese club next season, to even come close to giving the Lions a decent game.
France obviously would be a different proposition. I don’t mind if they play France in a one-off match, but a whole tour there? Absolutely not.
For me, it is a case of it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, and the three tours to the southern hemisphere must be retained.
We all have our favourite British and Irish Lions memories based on the tours to Australia, South Africa and New Zealand.
Some of our memories date back to when it was called just the British Lions. The Irish appendage was added in 2001 to better represent the four home unions.
For me, nothing will ever beat the 1997 series win over South Africa. The Springboks were the reigning World Cup winners, and it was the first Lions tour to South Africa since the end of apartheid.
These factors, along with the fact that this was a Lions team with a strong Scotland contingent, coaches and players, made the tour even more memorable.
Even those who weren’t even alive back in 1997 have shared the excitement of that tour through “Living with the Lions,” one of the best sports videos ever.
Forwards coach Jim Telfer's “This is your Everest” speech to the Lions forwards, which included Scotland’s Rob Wainwright and the late, great Tom Smith, is three spine-tingling minutes of coaching inspiration still available to watch on the official Lions YouTube channel.
It is the rugby equivalent of Al Pacino's locker room speech as an American Football coach in the movie Any Given Sunday.
Some will go even further back with their favourite Lions memory, with the 1971 winning tour to New Zealand one of the best. That was the tour that two late, great Scottish rugby legends, Gordon “Broon frae Troon” Brown and Ian “Mighty Mouse” McLauchlan, came to the fore. The pair were involved four years later, when the Lions won the series in South Africa. Other legendary Scots Andy Irvine, Sir Ian McGeechan and Sandy Carmichael were also part of the Lions squad against the Springboks.
Since the turn of the century, they have won just two out of eight Test series, both against Australia, traditionally the weakest of the three sides the Lions face. The 2017 Lions tour to New Zealand ended in a draw. Both sides won a Test each, with the third one ending 15-15.
In truth, the last eight Lions Tests from 2001 haven't caught the imagination as those before them.
For instance, although the Lions won the 2025 Lions tour to Australia, which they were expected to do, it was soon forgotten, even with so many Scotland players such as Finn Russell playing such a vital role in the Test series win.
Off the back of such a forgettable tour, it is understandable that the Lions have reviewed their future, but it is misguided.
It is a bigger deal for Lions fans going to follow their team in Australia, New Zealand and South Africa.
It is a rugby trip of a lifetime, while a Lions tour to France would be like a summer holiday with a bit of rugby thrown in.
As I said I accept, that does sound like heaven, but the Lions are based on tradition. Leave things as they are.
Share