The Wallabies get one back: Australia wins the third and final test in the Lions series.

After playing 10 test matches against various teams from the Southern Hemisphere, the 2025 British and Irish Lions tour is finally over. After losing the first warm-up game against Argentina, they hadn’t dropped a game since, looking dominant over their tour of Australia.

They beat all the Australian Super Rugby teams and a combined Australia and New Zealand team and took the first two games of the test series against the Wallabies. It was no secret, either, that the Lions wanted a clean sweep of the three-test series to finish off the tour in style.

However, after just eight minutes of the third test, the Wallabies scored a try in the corner, and they never looked back. 

They came out inspired in the pouring rain in Sydney with Wallabies forwards Will Skelton and Taniela Tupou setting the tone, winning every single ruck battle and smashing all the Lions players they could find on the pitch.

Retiring Wallabie half-back Nic White made sure to have his impact on the field, as he was everywhere, including being the instigator in the many fights that occurred during the game. 

The first half was scrappy, wet and chaotic to say the least, with the Wallabies only up eight points with the score being 8-0.

Then it somehow got more chaotic.

Just two minutes into the second half, the referee ordered the players to go back to their respective locker rooms due to lightning strikes starting to happen closer and closer to the stadium.

So for 35 minutes, the players kept active on exercise bikes, passing balls, and in some cases, for Lions player Finn Russell, just went on his phone.

“We spoke about that before the game, that it could happen,” Wallabies captain Harry Wilson said post-match.

“We had a few plans in place. We just wanted this game so badly; whatever we had to do, we were going to do. 

Finally, the game resumed, and the Wallabies wasted no time in restoring momentum. 

 Off a dropped ball by the Lions, Wallabies winger Max Jorgensen stole the ball and scored the Wallabies’ second try, stretching their lead to fifteen points.

The Lions did manage to get on the scoreboard, but it was too little, too late and with a yellow card to the Lions hooker Ronan Kellehe, it was too much of a mountain to climb as the Wallabies won the game 22-12. Finally ending the British and Irish Lions winning streak, putting some respect back into the Wallabies jersey.

Although the Lions had already won the test series before this test series, they still wanted that series sweep.

“Our goal before the series was to try to win 3-0,” said Dan Sheehan, who was the Lions’ acting captain.

“It was a bit disappointing on our end to finish with this.”

The Lions still would call this tour a resounding success, winning all but this one game on their tour and managing to win the Tom Richards Trophy for the first time in 12 years.

What is a telling statistic is that the overall score over the three test series was 68-67 to the Lions, showing just how close this series was. 

Maybe, just maybe, if the Wallabies had all their men and weren’t hard done by in the second test, this test series very well could have gone the way of the Wallabies….