The 2009 tour to South Africa was originally considered likely to see upwards of 50,000 fans traveling in support. Unfortunately the world wide recession looks as if it will have a serious impact on this. The British and Irish Lions tour schedule is as follows:

Tour Fixtures and results

Sat 30 May 14:00 Highveld Royal XV 25-37 British & Irish Lions, Royal Bafokeng

Wed 03 Jun 17:10 Golden Lions 10-74 British & Irish Lions, Coca-Cola Park

Sat 06 Jun 14:00 Cheetahs 24-26 British & Irish Lions, Vodacom Park

Wed 10 Jun 18:10 Sharks 3-39 British & Irish Lions, The ABSA Stadium

Sat 13 Jun 14:00 Western Province 23-26 British & Irish Lions, Newlands

Tue 16 Jun 14:00 Southern Kings 8-20 British & Irish Lions, Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium

Sat 20 Jun 14:00 South Africa v British & Irish Lions, The ABSA Stadium

Tue 23 Jun 18:10 Emerging Springboks v British & Irish Lions, Newlands

Sat 27 Jun 14:00 South Africa v British & Irish Lions, Loftus Versfeld

Sat 04 Jul 14:00 South Africa v British & Irish Lions, Coca-Cola Park

The touring party was: Tommy Bowe, Lee Byrne, Keith Earls, Harry Ellis, Stephen Ferris, Luke Fitzgerald, Jerry Flannery, Riki Flutey, Leigh Halfpenny, Jamie Heaslip, Nathan Hines, Gethin Jenkins, Adam Rhys Jones, Alun-Wyn Jones, Stephen Jones, Rob Kearney, Lee Mears, Ugo Monye, Euan Murray, Donncha O’Callaghan, Paul O’Connell (C), Brian O’Driscoll, Ronan
O’Gara, Mike Phillips, Andy Powell, Alan Quinlan, Matthew Rees, Jamie Roberts, Tom Shanklin, Simon Shaw, Andrew Sheridan, Phil Vickery, David Wallace, Martyn Williams, Shane Williams and Joe Worsley

Tomas O’Leary broke his ankle and was replaced by Mike Blair, Blues centre Tom Shanklin needed a shoulder operation and was replaced by James Hook, but only because Halfpenny was injured and would miss the start of the tour. Alan Quinlan was banned for 12 weeks and replaced by Tom Croft. Gordon D’Arcy joined as utility cover