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The 2009 British and Irish Lions Tour to South Africa was an international rugby union tour which took place in South Africa from May to July 2009. The British and Irish Lions played a three-match Test series against South Africa, with matches in Durban, Pretoria and Johannesburg. South Africa won the Test series, defeating the Lions 26–21 in the first Test, and then 28–25 in the second Test. The third Test was won by the Lions 28–9. The highlight of the series was the second Test, which the Lions had led until the 76th minute, when they fell 25–22 behind. Two minutes later, Stephen Jones slotted a penalty to draw the sides at 25–25 with only two minutes left on the clock. However, two minutes into injury time, Morné Steyn scored a 52-metre penalty kick, to win the match at 28–25. The tour started with matches against six provincial teams, the Lions winning all six. The Lions also played one match against South Africa's A team, the Emerging Springboks, which was drawn at 13–13. The 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup took place in South Africa during this tour, between 14 and 28 June, using many of the same stadia. The tour followed the 2005 British and Irish Lions tour to New Zealand and preceded the 2013 British and Irish Lions tour to Australia. == Background == The tour was confirmed by the South African Rugby Union on 21 September 2007. The Lions chief executive John Feehan stated in November 2007 that no home Test match would be played prior to departure, as had taken place in 2005, and that fewer players and personnel would go to South Africa than had gone to New Zealand in 2005.〔(South Africa to see leaner-looking Lions Mick Cleary, Daily Telegraph 21 November 2007 )〕 The tour manager was Gerald Davies,〔(Davies named 2009 Lions manager, BBC website 20 November 2007 )〕 the head coach was Ian McGeechan,〔(McGeechan given Lions coach role, BBC website 14 May 2008 )〕 and the captain of the squad was Munster captain and Ireland lock, Paul O'Connell. The tour schedule was announced by the Lions and the South African Rugby Union (SARU) on 10 April 2008. The final fixture confirmed was the game in Port Elizabeth; on 22 January 2009, SARU announced that they had received permission from the South African government to hold the match on the Youth Day national holiday on 16 June. This match marked the debut of the Southern Kings, a franchise formed in the Southern and Eastern Cape region, following the failure of the Southern Spears. Head coach Ian McGeechan had planned to take the Lions squad to the Spanish city of Granada, at the foot of the Sierra Nevada mountains for a high-altitude training camp, but on 27 April he announced that it had been cancelled because of problems over player availability. The Lions flew to South Africa on 24 May, arriving the following day. The format was similar to that of the Lions' 2005 tour of New Zealand. As in 2005, six games were played before the first Test, and a mid-week game between the first and second Tests; unlike 2005, there was no mid-week game between the second and third Tests. Due to its unpopularity, The Power of Four anthem was not used on the 2009 tour. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「2009 British and Irish Lions tour to South Africa」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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