The England players you may have forgotten were selected for the British and Irish Lions
Rugby NewsTuesday, 21 April 2020 at 07:39
In the professional era, there has been no shortage of Englishmen to have tasted glory wearing the quartered crest.
But there are also players from England who have gone more under the radar, who, for various reasons, failed to make a huge impact as a Lion.
1. John Bentley (1997)
Bentley made eight appearances for the Lions during their successful 1997 tour to South Africa, including caps in the second and third Tests.
Originally a union player, he made his England debut against Ireland in 1988 aged 21 and played on the summer tour against Australia.
He then switched codes, twice representing Great Britain at league, before returning to union in 1996 and helping Newcastle Falcons win their Premiership title in 1998.
Bentley is best remembered on the 1997 Tour for his magnificent solo try against Gauteng Lions and for his comedic stylings on the DVD Living With Lions.
2. Matt Perry (2001)
Perry toured Australia with the Lions in 2001 and a series of impressive displays in the warm-up saw him start all three Tests at full-back ahead of England team-mate Iain Balshaw.
The full-back had booted eight points in the 83-6 victory over Queensland Presidents XV and went over for his only Lions try in the narrow 28-25 defeat to Australia ‘A’ – crossing the whitewash after being released by Mark Taylor, who had sucked in the Australian defence.
That earned him the No.15 jersey for the first Test, a memorable 29-13 triumph at The Gabba, and the 24-year-old retained his spot for the two battling defeats that followed.
Perry spent the entirety of his nine-year professional career playing for Bath – the club that father Brendan and grandfather Idris also represented – and scored ten tries in 36 England appearances before retiring from rugby in 2007 aged 30, due to a bulging disc in his back.
3. Ollie Smith (2005)
Smith scored a try against Argentina on his Lions debut and made five further appearances in the Tour that followed to New Zealand.
During his career, he played for Harlequins, Montpellier and Leicester Tigers before a knee injury forced him to retire.
A specialist outside centre, who occasionally played inside centre or wing, he made five England appearances in a career that was frequently interrupted by injuries.
4. Charlie Hodgson (2005)
Hodgson made his mark on the 2005 Lions Tour scoring 50 points in the four midweek games he played.
The English fly-half wasn’t selected for the Test matches against New Zealand but made an impressive debut in a Lions jersey against Taranaki where he hit four penalties and two conversions.
He followed that up with three penalties and three conversions in the win over Otago and contributed 19 points in the 109-6 demolition of Manawatu before getting injured in the match against Auckland.
His England career started with a bang with a record breaking 44-point haul in the 134-0 win over Romania in 2001 and despite injury putting him out of contention for the 2003 World Cup, the fly-half would go on to win 38 England caps.
5. Billy Twelvetrees (2013)
Twelvetrees became the fourth injury replacement for the 2013 Lions when he was called up from the England squad in Argentina to add cover to the back division.
The Gloucester playmaker - who made a try-scoring debut for England in 2013 - arrived ahead of the fifth game on tour against the Waratahs.
And he would go on to feature twice in the famous red jersey Down Under, starting the clash with the Brumbies and coming off the bench in the final tour game against the Melbourne Rebels.
Since that Tour, Twelvetrees has captained his club side Gloucester to the European Challenge Cup title in 2015 but narrowly missed out on a spot in England's Rugby World Cup squad later that same year.
6. Christian Wade (2013)
Wade followed Alex Corbisiero and Billy Twelvetrees out of the England squad in Argentina to Australia after being called up to act as three-quarter cover for the 2013 Lions.
He had made his England debut the weekend before in Salta and was pulled out of the team for the second Test so he could fly to Sydney in time to play against the Brumbies.
That narrow defeat against the Brumbies ended up being Wade's sole appearance on Tour and since then the winger has not managed to crack the international set-up and has since made the move to the NFL to play American Football.
7. Dylan Hartley (2013)
In May 2013 Hartley was sent off in the Premiership final against Leicester and banned for 11 weeks after being found guilty of verbally abusing a match official. Despite initially being selected, this act cost Hartley his place in the squad picked to head to Australia.
But, after having also had to miss out on the 2015 Rugby World Cup on home soil, Hartley has gone from strength to strength since taking over the England captaincy under Eddie Jones.
The Kiwi-born hooker has guided England to the Grand Slam in 2016 - their first in 13 years - and then to an historic Wallaby whitewash in their three Test tour against Australia the following summer.
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- Jordie Barrett over Damian de Allende is far from being correct. The hype around Dupont is also overreaching, he's probably 4th in the world and has been since the 2023 WC. He also avoids certain matchups which is strange. The rest of the list is pretty good apart from minor subjective biases.JasonMarlow16-09-2026
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