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The attempt to allure the British & Irish Lions to Las Vegas has come and gone. The combined side of England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales will tour Australia in 2025. It was hoped that a USA side would be able to feature by playing as the home team against the touring Lions in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Two options were tabled for the match. First, a test match between the USA Eagles and the British & Irish Lions. Second, the touring side facing a team playing as the USA Barbarians. Either way, the match will not be taking place after the British & Irish Lions said no.
It would not be the first such case involving the Americas. Argentina has sought to take-on the British & Irish Lions as part of their tours to South Africa. Such requests have been declined. On the flip side, Argentina accepted a request to play an away match against the British & Irish Lions in Cardiff, Wales in 2005.
The 2021 British & Irish Lions tour was to South Africa. It was preceded by the British & Irish Lions playing a home match against Japan in Edinburgh, Scotland. The 2013 British & Irish Lions played against the Barbarians in Hong Kong before their first match in Australia.
The British & Irish Lions tour once every four years. The tours are placed in the middle of Rugby World Cup cycles. This results in a decrease of possible Tier 1 home matches in Lions tour years. Also of note is that the British & Irish Lions do not tour the world; instead, the team only tours Australia, New Zealand and South Africa.
No other country has hosted a British & Irish Lions tour since long before Rugby World Cups began in 1987. The only other country to host a Lions tour was Argentina in 1910, 1927 and 1936. The 1910 Lions played one test match in Argentina and three in South Africa.
The Lions have not been back to Argentina since 1936 but the Lions were busy tourists to apartheid South Africa, including in 1980 when World Rugby Chairman Bill Beaumont captained the British & Lions touring side. Beaumont never played a match for England against Fiji nor any other Tier 2 opponent.
The British & Irish Lions first toured in 1888. Before Rugby World Cups the tours changed with some being three years apart and others five and occasionally tours were separated by just two years. The 1983 tour to New Zealand was the last before tours became every four years and are always between World Cups. Tours have been to Australia, New Zealand and South Africa in that order ever since.
