Andy Farrell not ruling out leading the Lions for New Zealand tour

By Duncan Bech, PA Rugby Union Correspondent, Sydney

Andy Farrell has left the door open to leading the next British and Irish Lions tour after presiding over a 2-1 series victory against Australia.

The Lions’ dream of finishing their tour Down Under with a 100 per cent record ended with a 22-12 defeat in the final Test at a rain lashed Accor Stadium, but they return home having achieved the main objective.

A first series triumph since 2013 puts Farrell in pole position to take charge of the next expedition to New Zealand and the Ireland boss admits his passion for the Lions has only grown over the last two months.

“Everyone knows what I think about this concept and I suppose that says it all,” he said.

“I love everything that the Lions is about and I’ve thoroughly, thoroughly enjoyed the last eight weeks.

“There are always ups and there are always downs, but the inner circle is a special place to be.

“Read into that what you want but I suppose four years, there’s a long time between drinks isn’t there?”

An extraordinary third Test that produced three failed HIAs and saw James Ryan knocked out was paused for 37 minutes early in the second-half after the players left the field because of lightening strikes in the area.

Australia then used up the full 10 minutes available to warm-up for the resumption of play, while the Lions only took five minutes. TV footage from the Lions’ changing room during the break showed Finn Russell and Tom Curry using their phones.

“We agreed on 10 minutes for the warm-up and through the advice from our experts in that field we only made the call to come out five minutes before so that we would be ready to go,” Farrell said.

“I hope I’m not in a game like that again, actually. Rigor mortis was setting in at one stage there for the lads! I suppose that is what you come to expect with a schedule like the Lions schedule. We have seen it all now haven’t we!

“We were trying to work out what the rules were and what was going to happen. At one stage it looked like it was going be 45 minutes then it was pulled back to 30 minutes.

“There were updates constantly coming in but the lads stayed relaxed enough, had five minutes of a warm-up and got the show back on the road.

“What came off the back of that is Australia hit the ground running and thoroughly deserved their win.”

Australia boss Joe Schmidt revealed his side had prepared for the incoming bad weather.

“We had been warned that there might be a bit of lightning, so we had a plan and with that plan we made sure that guys kept moving,” Schmidt said.

“We’d four balls in the changing room so guys could throw them around, so that guys could stay connected.

“We had a couple of bikes and different guys were rotating on and off the bikes. The rest of the time, it was just trying to get us organised for the restart.”