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June 26 down the years
Lions draw first blood in New Zealand
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The Lions' Barry John slots a kick, British Lions tour of New Zealand, 1971
Barry John kicked two penalties to help the Lions to victory © Getty Images
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1971
The British & Irish Lions beat the All Blacks 9-3 in Dunedin in the opening Test of their only winning series to date in New Zealand.

The previous tour had finished 4-0 to the All Blacks and John Dawes' men went in as underdogs for this match but Barry John kicked a brace of penalties and Ian McLauchlan scored a try for the tourists to win the game.

1993
The Lions, with a record 11 England international players in their ranks, levelled the series with the All Blacks, winning 20-7 (the record winning margin for the Lions against New Zealand) in Wellington.

Martin Bayfield dominated the lineouts, Gavin Hastings' kicking was excellent, Rob Andrew added a drop-goal and Rory Underwood scored a try to give the Lions the win.

2008
The Rugby Football Union launched an investigation into allegations of player misconduct during England's recently completed tour to New Zealand. RFU disciplinary officer Jeff Blackett was appointed to conduct the probe into a night that ended with allegations of serious sexual assault against four players - revealed by a newspaper as Danny Care, Topsy Ojo, Mike Brown and David Strettle. No formal complaint was made to the police and the quartet denied any wrongdoing in the strongest possible terms. Ojo and Brown were eventually fined for misconduct and Care and Strettle were found not guilty.

1994
France beat New Zealand 22-8 in Christchurch on the day Philippe Sella became the first man to play 100 Tests. Jonah Lomu made his All Blacks debut as well as Simon Mannix whilst Frank Bunce scored the solitary try for the home side.

Philippe Benetton scored France's try with Thierry Lacroix landing two penalties and a conversion. Christohpe Deylaud dropped two goals and Jean-Luc Sadourny scored one to mark Sella's centenary game with a win.

1937
In the first of a five-Test tour Down Under the South Africans beat Australia 9-5 at the Sydney Cricket Ground. Ebbo Bastard and Ferdie Bergh scored the tries for the Springboks.

1963
The Western Province Universities recorded a rare win against a major touring team. The students beat the Wallabies 11-9 in Cape Town, Springboks Hannes Marais and Jannie Engelbrecht scoring their tries.

1965
Australia completed a first-ever Test series win against South Africa at Lang Park. Jim Lenehan and Beres Ellwood each kicked two penalties for the home side to win 12-8 and secure the series 2-0.

1971
The Springboks opened their controversial demo tour of Australia with a 44-18 win against Western Australia at Perry Lakes. Wing Hannes Viljoen crossed for five of the visitors' tries.

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