Andy Farrell, the triumphant coach of the British & Irish Lions, suggested the very idea of replacing Australia on the tour programme is “insulting”.
Both to the home team as well as the touring one, presumably. His side’s achievement should not be cheapened by the idea that their opponents this summer were undeserving of the fixture.
It is true that Australian rugby union has been in the doldrums. But that is based on very high standards in a country who have twice been world champions. It should be remembered that that is more than all of the Lions’ constituent nations combined.
They showed in winning the final Test in Sydney on Saturday that there is enough fight left in them to merit continued involvement in the Lions tour cycle.
Plus, an invitational team are always playing a dangerous game if they threaten to drop fixtures based on one bad crop.
In a sports world where everything needs to be new and jazzy and innovative – the Hundred, the Baller League, Olympic 3v3 basketball, as well as the touted breakaway rugby event, R360 – the ritual and routine of the Lions sets it apart.
Lions Tests are memorable because there are only three of them every four years. And, for the host team, that’s three every 12 years. That is a long time to stew on defeat, which is why it means so much.
This 2-1 series win in Australia was the first time the Lions have returned to a country in the professional era – meaning since 1997 – and won again. When they won there back in 2013, it had been the Lions’ first series victory in 16 years.
Having a winning record against the Wallabies does not mean a trip to Australia is not worth it.
Australian rugby might be at a low ebb. The World Cup wins in 1991 and 1999 are a long time past now, and the sport in the country has faced two decades of decline.
But they are set to host an expanded Rugby World Cup in 2027. The evidence of the final Test win in Sydney suggests they are building a side who will at least be more competitive than in the last World Cup, where they exited in the group stage for the first time.
It is a long time away when they are next due to host the Lions, and there is no guarantee that they will.
France have been touted as a new opponent for the touring side. Abdelatif Benazzi, the Moroccan-born former France lock turned administrator, has pitched for the Lions to travel to his country in future.
Are they the most deserving? What would be gained from the four nations who make up the Lions ganging up to face a team they all do every year in the Six Nations anyway?
Would a trip to France even feel like a Lions tour? As Maro Itoje, the Lions captain, said after the idea was put to him: “It needs a long-haul flight.”
Surely the most consideration should be paid to Argentina. If a new destination can be shoehorned into the Lions cycle, they should be heading to South America.
New in the professional era, at least. The Lions have been to Argentina before. Coincidentally, their last series clean sweep occurred when they played nine games there, in 1927.
Amazingly, Argentina have reached the top echelons of rugby union – in both XVs and sevens, where they have been World Series champions for two seasons running – despite being propped up by a largely amateur domestic game.
Financial powerhouses, like the British and Irish unions, apparently can barely even afford to run sevens programmes at all any more, let alone make them competitive.
And yet Argentina are peerless in the abridged format, all while climbing to No 7 in the world in XVs. They were good enough, too, to mete out the only defeat to the 2025 Lions until the final Test in Sydney.
The largely amateur status of the game there is one thing which could be held against staging a full Lions tour to Argentina. Would the midweek tour matches be competitive enough?
Well, the 2025 Lions were barely pressed in their tour matches, until the Australia sides at least teamed up with some Pasifika talent based across the ditch in New Zealand.
An Argentina tour need not be confined solely to one country. Uruguay and Chile are emerging forces in the sport, and could be worthy tour match opposition.
A South America tour would also plug straight in to the fuzzy old traditions of the Lions. A trip into uncharted territory – in the modern era, at least – while making new Lions lore off the beaten track.
Buenos Aires would be an adventure. Santiago and Montevideo also.
How to fit them in without taking away from what makes the Lions so special already is a different question altogether. But Argentina deserve to welcome the Lions.
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Sole survivors
- Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
- George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
- Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
- Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
Details
Through Her Lens: The stories behind the photography of Eva Sereny
Forewords by Jacqueline Bisset and Charlotte Rampling, ACC Art Books
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PROFILE OF HALAN
Started: November 2017
Founders: Mounir Nakhla, Ahmed Mohsen and Mohamed Aboulnaga
Based: Cairo, Egypt
Sector: transport and logistics
Size: 150 employees
Investment: approximately $8 million
Investors include: Singapore’s Battery Road Digital Holdings, Egypt’s Algebra Ventures, Uber co-founder and former CTO Oscar Salazar
Terror attacks in Paris, November 13, 2015
- At 9.16pm, three suicide attackers killed one person outside the Atade de France during a foootball match between France and Germany
- At 9.25pm, three attackers opened fire on restaurants and cafes over 20 minutes, killing 39 people
- Shortly after 9.40pm, three other attackers launched a three-hour raid on the Bataclan, in which 1,500 people had gathered to watch a rock concert. In total, 90 people were killed
- Salah Abdeslam, the only survivor of the terrorists, did not directly participate in the attacks, thought to be due to a technical glitch in his suicide vest
- He fled to Belgium and was involved in attacks on Brussels in March 2016. He is serving a life sentence in France
Porsche Taycan Turbo specs
Engine: Two permanent-magnet synchronous AC motors
Transmission: two-speed
Power: 671hp
Torque: 1050Nm
Range: 450km
Price: Dh601,800
On sale: now
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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The Melbourne Mercer Global Pension Index
The Melbourne Mercer Global Pension Index
Mazen Abukhater, principal and actuary at global consultancy Mercer, Middle East, says the company’s Melbourne Mercer Global Pension Index - which benchmarks 34 pension schemes across the globe to assess their adequacy, sustainability and integrity - included Saudi Arabia for the first time this year to offer a glimpse into the region.
The index highlighted fundamental issues for all 34 countries, such as a rapid ageing population and a low growth / low interest environment putting pressure on expected returns. It also highlighted the increasing popularity around the world of defined contribution schemes.
“Average life expectancy has been increasing by about three years every 10 years. Someone born in 1947 is expected to live until 85 whereas someone born in 2007 is expected to live to 103,” Mr Abukhater told the Mena Pensions Conference.
“Are our systems equipped to handle these kind of life expectancies in the future? If so many people retire at 60, they are going to be in retirement for 43 years – so we need to adapt our retirement age to our changing life expectancy.”
Saudi Arabia came in the middle of Mercer’s ranking with a score of 58.9. The report said the country's index could be raised by improving the minimum level of support for the poorest aged individuals and increasing the labour force participation rate at older ages as life expectancies rise.
Mr Abukhater said the challenges of an ageing population, increased life expectancy and some individuals relying solely on their government for financial support in their retirement years will put the system under strain.
“To relieve that pressure, governments need to consider whether it is time to switch to a defined contribution scheme so that individuals can supplement their own future with the help of government support,” he said.
More on animal trafficking
More on animal trafficking
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How it works
1) The liquid nanoclay is a mixture of water and clay that aims to convert desert land to fertile ground
2) Instead of water draining straight through the sand, it apparently helps the soil retain water
3) One application is said to last five years
4) The cost of treatment per hectare (2.4 acres) of desert varies from $7,000 to $10,000 per hectare
KILLING OF QASSEM SULEIMANI
Groom and Two Brides
Director: Elie Semaan
Starring: Abdullah Boushehri, Laila Abdallah, Lulwa Almulla
Rating: 3/5
White hydrogen: Naturally occurring hydrogen
Chromite: Hard, metallic mineral containing iron oxide and chromium oxide
Ultramafic rocks: Dark-coloured rocks rich in magnesium or iron with very low silica content
Ophiolite: A section of the earth’s crust, which is oceanic in nature that has since been uplifted and exposed on land
Olivine: A commonly occurring magnesium iron silicate mineral that derives its name for its olive-green yellow-green colour
MATCH INFO
Manchester City 2 (Mahrez 04', Ake 84')
Leicester City 5 (Vardy 37' pen, 54', 58' pen, Maddison 77', Tielemans 88' pen)
Man of the match: Jamie Vardy (Leicester City)
Our legal advisor
Rasmi Ragy is a senior counsel at Charles Russell Speechlys, a law firm headquartered in London with offices in Europe, the Middle East and Hong Kong.
Experience: Prosecutor in Egypt with more than 40 years experience across the GCC.
Education: Ain Shams University, Egypt, in 1978.
if you go
The flights
Direct flights from the UAE to the Nepalese capital, Kathmandu, are available with Air Arabia, (www.airarabia.com) Fly Dubai (www.flydubai.com) or Etihad (www.etihad.com) from Dh1,200 return including taxes. The trek described here started from Jomson, but there are many other start and end point variations depending on how you tailor your trek. To get to Jomson from Kathmandu you must first fly to the lake-side resort town of Pokhara with either Buddha Air (www.buddhaair.com) or Yeti Airlines (www.yetiairlines.com). Both charge around US$240 (Dh880) return. From Pokhara there are early morning flights to Jomson with Yeti Airlines or Simrik Airlines (www.simrikairlines.com) for around US$220 (Dh800) return.
The trek
Restricted area permits (US$500 per person) are required for trekking in the Upper Mustang area. The challenging Meso Kanto pass between Tilcho Lake and Jomson should not be attempted by those without a lot of mountain experience and a good support team. An excellent trekking company with good knowledge of Upper Mustang, the Annaurpuna Circuit and Tilcho Lake area and who can help organise a version of the trek described here is the Nepal-UK run Snow Cat Travel (www.snowcattravel.com). Prices vary widely depending on accommodation types and the level of assistance required.
World record transfers
1. Kylian Mbappe - to Real Madrid in 2017/18 - €180 million (Dh770.4m - if a deal goes through)
2. Paul Pogba - to Manchester United in 2016/17 - €105m
3. Gareth Bale - to Real Madrid in 2013/14 - €101m
4. Cristiano Ronaldo - to Real Madrid in 2009/10 - €94m
5. Gonzalo Higuain - to Juventus in 2016/17 - €90m
6. Neymar - to Barcelona in 2013/14 - €88.2m
7. Romelu Lukaku - to Manchester United in 2017/18 - €84.7m
8. Luis Suarez - to Barcelona in 2014/15 - €81.72m
9. Angel di Maria - to Manchester United in 2014/15 - €75m
10. James Rodriguez - to Real Madrid in 2014/15 - €75m
