Since the British & Irish Lions’ first tour in 1888 there have been 31 men that have coached the side.

Every four years the best players from England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales combine, and tour Australia, South Africa or New Zealand in a spectacle that is unique to rugby union.

It is not a job for the faint of heart and only the very best in rugby are chosen to do it.

Read more: Who is in the coaching staff for the 2025 British & Irish Lions tour to Australia?

Andy Farrell is the latest to add his name to the illustrious list of coaches and will hope that his time in Australia this summer will be remembered for plenty of years to come.

So as the announcements prepare to come thick and fast, here is a look back at who has led the Lions into battle over the past 50 years.

British & Irish Lions rugby coach: Who has led the team?

Andy Farrell (2025)

Andy Farrell will lead the British & Irish Lions for the first time this summer in Australia.

In 2013 and 2017 the Englishman previously coached the tourists as an assistant, with his work as a defence coach underpinning successful tours in Australia and New Zealand.

Now the leading man, the 49-year-old has been at the heart of Ireland’s recent successes.

He led his team to consecutive Guinness Men’s Six Nations titles in 2023 and 2024, attained world number one ranking between 2022 and 2023, and won World Rugby Coach of the Year in 2023.

A clear favourite to take on this role ahead of his appointment Farrell is yet to appoint his coaching team to take Down Under later this year.

Warren Gatland (2013, 2017 & 2021)

Having led the British & Irish Lions on three occasions, Warren Gatland will be remembered as one of the most successful coaches in the tourists’ history.

After completing an apprenticeship under Sir Ian McGeechan in 2009, where the New Zealander was forwards coach, Gatland took charge of the Lions for the first time in 2013.

Appointed Wales coach in 2007, he had transformed the team’s fortunes and secured Guinness Men’s Six Nations titles in 2008, 2012 and 2013.

The Lions played 10 matches Down Under, lost just twice and secured a 2-1 series win. Four years later Gatland took the Lions to his home country, New Zealand. After losing the first Test 30-15, the Lions won the second Test 24-21 after Sonny Bill Williams’ red card for a high tackle and drew the final match 15-15 at Eden Park.

Related: All you need to know about the 2025 British & Irish Lions tour to Australia

While the Lions did not win the series, it was the Lions’ best outing in New Zealand since 1971 and kept Gatland’s time as head coach spotless.

A Covid-cleansed tour of South Africa put a close to Gatland’s time as Lions coach. From the very start it was a tour that felt very different with no crowds and incidents of positive Covid tests. 

Rassie Erasmus also released an infamous one hour video after South Africa lost the first Test 22-17 where he heavily criticised Australian referee Nic Berry for his decision making in Cape Town, and angered plenty in the rugby community. In the second and third Tests the Boks looked far more confident and wrapped up a Series victory thanks to a Lukhanyo Am’s try.

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Read on… Who has been captain for the British & Irish Lions? 

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Sir Ian McGeechan (1989, 1993, 1997 & 2009)

No one has taken charge of the Lions more than Sir Ian McGeechan. In fact when you think of the red jersey it does not take long for McGeechan to come to mind. Both as a player and a coach, McGeechan has exemplified what being a Lion is all about.

A tourist in 1974 and 1977, the former back first took charge of the Lions in 1989 while in charge of Scotland.

Going to Australia his team, captained by Finlay Calder, completed a series comeback after losing their opening Test 30-12 in Sydney. That match in Sydney was the only time that the Lions experienced defeat Down Under, as they won 19-12 in the second Test and 19-18 in the third Test.

Four years later in New Zealand, McGeechan did not enjoy the same success as the All Blacks completed a 2-1 Test series victory.

Anything that McGeechan had achieved in the past paled in comparison to 1997.

Every aspect of that South Africa tour was documented in Living With Lions and saw the Lions beat the Springboks with a last-gasp Jeremy Guscott drop goal in the second Test to beat the World Cup holders. It was the first tour since the end of apartheid and the first time that the Lions had played since rugby union turned professional in 1995.

Captured in technicolour you were not really considered as a rugby fan unless you had a battered copy of the VHS somewhere in your house.

McGeechan was then brought back in for the 2009 tour of South Africa. 2009 was not as memorable a time as 12 years prior, as the Lions slipped to a series defeat against the Springboks.

Sir Clive Woodward (2005)

Coming into the 2005 Tour of New Zealand, Sir Clive Woodward’s stock had never been higher. Just two years prior he had led England to Rugby World Cup glory in Australia, but did not win a Test against the All Blacks and was largely criticised for his handling of this Tour.

Woodward named a management group of 25 to travel to the southern hemisphere, including the likes of Eddie O’Sullivan, Sir Ian McGeechan, Gareth Jenkins, Andy Robinson, Mike Ford and even former government communications consultant Alastair Campbell.

Brian O’Driscoll was originally named captain of the team, but had his involvement in the series brought to a close two minutes into the first Test when Tana Umaga and Kevin Mealamu cleaned the centre out at a ruck and dislocated his shoulder.

See more: Who are the British & Irish Lions playing in Australia this summer?

After the Lions lost the first Test 21-3 Gareth Thomas was installed as captain but could not wrestle back momentum in the series and lost the final two matches of the series 48-18 and 38-19.

Woodward had the most experienced Lions squad ever assembled and the largest management team at his disposal, but barely managed to land a punch.

Sir Graham Henry (2001)

Hot off the heels of success in 1997 and the worldwide success of Living With Lions, the British & Irish Lions looked to maintain their upward trajectory. To do that they appointed Graham Henry as their head coach.

Since 1998 the Kiwi had led Wales and took his team to 11 consecutive victories in 1999, reigniting national pride in the country’s national team.

The Test series started brightly for Henry’s side as they picked up a 29-13 win over the Wallabies at the Gabba. Tries for Jason Robinson, Dafydd James, Brian O’Driscoll and Scott Quinnell, along with Jonny Wilkinson’s accurate kicking, meant that there were high hopes for the tourists.

A week later Australia rallied to win 35-14 in Melbourne and in Sydney the Wallabies secured a series win thanks to a 29-23 victory despite the Lions’ best efforts.

The Kiwi’s time as Lions head coach was marred by mid-tour newspaper columns written by scrum-half duo Matt Dawson and Austin Healey that criticised the coaching and the atmosphere amongst the playing group. Henry later went on to lead New Zealand to a Rugby World Cup title in 2011 before handing the All Blacks to his protege, Steve Hansen.

Jim Telfer (1983)

A two-time Tourist in his playing career, Telfer formed a formidable reputation as a coach when he took charge of Scotland in 1981.

12 years on from the Lions’ only ever series win over the All Blacks, this trip could not have gone worse for the touring side as they succumbed to a second-ever tour whitewash.

At the end of his time in charge Telfer said that the Lions had “sat back” while the All Blacks had moulded themselves into world-beaters.

Out of the players that started the first game against the All Blacks, only four players had previously played a Test for the Lions as Telfer grappled with a changing of the guard.

Read more: The British & Irish Lions captains over the years

More than anything else the Lions were criticised for not playing an attractive style of rugby, as The Guardian’s David Frost reported: “there seems to be little joy in their football”.

While Telfer’s stint as Lions head coach did not yield a Test series win, in 1997 the Scot was part of Sir Ian McGeechan’s coaching staff in 1997 and delivered the now-iconic ‘Everest’ speech ahead of the first Test against the Springboks.

Noel Murphy (1980)

Noel Murphy is part of Irish rugby royalty.  His father, Noel Sr, and his son, Kenny, all represented Ireland in their senior rugby careers and at the end of a distinguished career moved into coaching.

Murphy named Bill Beaumont as his captain after the lock forward led England to a Five Nations Grand Slam.

Injury marred the Lions’ time in South Africa as they played 18 games over 10 weeks and struggled to keep up with the physicality of their hosts.

A 26-22 loss to South Africa set the tone for the Test series, as Tony Ward’s 18 point tally was not enough to overcome their hosts. The Lions went on to lose the next two Tests, but did prevail at Loftus Versfelt as Clive Williams, Andrew Irvine and John O’Driscoll all crossed the whitewash to secure a 17-13 win.

Like in 1974 this tour went ahead against the wishes of the British Government, who opposed the apartheid regime and had signed the 1977 Gleneagles Agreement which discouraged sporting contact with South Africa. The Lions did not return to South Africa until 1997 as political problems grew.

John Dawes (1977)

Just six years after he captained the Lions to their only ever win over the All Blacks, John Dawes was named head coach of the Tourists for their 1977 Tour of New Zealand.

After he called time on his playing career the former teacher was appointed Wales coach in 1974 and won the Five Nations Championship for four of the next five years.

With the aim of bringing his Five Nations success to the southern hemisphere, Dawes named Phil Bennett as his captain and named 17 Welsh players in his squad of 30.

That tactic did not pay off. At the end of the series the Lions were 3-1 losers, with Dawes’ side succumbing to defeat in the first, third and fourth Tests. But while the series was won by New Zealand the Lions were a hair’s breadth from drawing it in the fourth Test. Dougie Morgan scored all of the Lions’ points in a 10-9 loss, however a try for Lawrie Knight and two Bevan Wilson penalties landed the host nation an outright win.

On this tour one of rugby’s most famous images was captured. When the Lions played New Zealand Juniors in Wellington, Fran Cotton was pictured caked in mud, with the image now known as the ‘Mudman’.

Other former British & Irish Lions coaches: Syd Millar CBE (1974), Carwyn James (1971), Ronnie Dawson (1968), John Robins (1966), Harry McKibbin (1962), O. B. Glasgow (1959), Jack Siggins (1955), Leslie B. Osborne (1950), Jock Hartley OBE (1938), Doug Prentice (1936), James Baxter (1927 & 1930), Harry Packer (1924), R. V. Stanley (1910), William Cail & Walter E. Rees (1910), George Harnett (1908), Arthur O’Brien (1904), Johnny Hammond (1903), Matthew Mullineux (1899), Roger Walker (1896), Edwin Ash (1891) and Alfred Shaw & Arthur Shrewsbury (1888)

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