2001 British and Irish Lions tour to Australia
| 2001 British and Irish Lions Tour to Australia | |
|---|---|
| Date | 8 June – 14 July |
| Coach(es) | Graham Henry |
| Tour captain(s) |
 Martin Johnson
|
| Test series winners |
 Australia (2–1) |
| Top test point scorer(s) |
Jonny Wilkinson (36) |
The 2001 British and Irish Lions tour to Australia was a series of matches played by the British and Irish Lions rugby union team in Australia.
This tour followed the Lions' 1997 tour to South Africa and preceded the 2005 tour to New Zealand.
The team was captained by Martin Johnson, who became the first and so far only man to lead the Lions on two tours. The coach was New Zealander Graham Henry. After winning the first of their matches against Australia, the Lions lost the remaining two matches of the test series. This was the first time that Australia defeated the Lions in a series. The tour was noted for tension between the test squad and the midweek squad as well as controversial newspaper columns written by scrum-halves Matt Dawson and Austin Healey accusing the coaching staff of the poor scheduling and training regimes and lack of team spirit.
Fullbacks: Iain Balshaw (Bath and England); Matt Perry (Bath and England)
Wings: Ben Cohen (Northampton and England); Dafydd James (Llanelli and Wales); Dan Luger (Saracens and England); Jason Robinson (Sale and England); Tyrone Howe (Ulster and Ireland) – injury replacement for Dan Luger
Centres: Mike Catt (Bath and England); Will Greenwood (Harlequins and England); Rob Henderson (Wasps and Ireland); Brian O'Driscoll (Leinster and Ireland); Mark Taylor (Swansea and Wales); Scott Gibbs (Swansea and Wales) – injury replacement for Mike Catt
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