Eddie Jones, coach in waiting of the Wallabies, has inflamed passions a little in advance of his first clash with the Lions on this tour as coach of Australia A. In the fall-out from Saturday night's match in Ballymore, Jones commented, a little cheekily to say the least: "There were a number of incidents off the ball that were disappointing. Hopefully the officials will keep a strict eye on this and take appropriate action."

Donal Lenihan responded: "All I can say is that in relation to Saturday night it was our intention to play football right from the start and that's our intention for the whole tour. Queensland traditionally have always been the most physical of the Australian provinces so it's not unexpected that people would size up the opposition and see what they're made of."

In all of this, as Lenihan had suspected all along, the legacy from 1989 has been palpable and you can scarcely pick up a newspaper or rugby magazine without encountering strong and frequent references to the Lions' tactics 12 years ago.

"I wish people would realise that in 12 years a huge amount has happened in rugby," said a palpably frustrated Lenihan. "It's in the past. It's a totally different game now and I wish people would just close the book on it and leave it go."