Joe Roff: Wallabies’ 2001 Lions series success remains Australia’s greatest of rugby’s golden age

He was part of the Wallabies’ golden age, when Australia won the Bledisloe Cup, Tri Nations and World Cup. But the triumph against the Lions remains the highlight of Joe Roff’s career.

There’s nothing the rugby faithful enjoy more than a trip down memory lane to reminisce about the good old days.

Joe Roff can attest to that. As one of the star members of the Wallabies that cleaned up in the late 1990s and early 2000s, he was part of the golden era that everyone loves to talk about.

But the matches he gets asked about most often are a surprise because they are not the World Cups or the Bledisloe or even the Tri-Nations that were the signature games of the great teams he played for. The standout series he routinely gets quizzed about is the 2001 tour by the British and Irish Lions.

“I find it fascinating that in all of good fortune to have been a part of these great teams the Lions is the thing that people ask me about most,” Roff told this masthead. “I guess it’s because it was one of the last great mountains to climb.

“We were at the top of our game at that stage… and we knew the history of Australia against the Lions and how hard it was to beat them, but none of us knew how significant that tour would be.”

Wallabies legend Joe Roff was integral in Australia’s 2001 series win. Picture: David Kelly

With their visits to Australia separated by 12 year intervals, playing the Lions really is a once in a lifetime opportunity for any Wallaby fortunate enough to play them.

Roff was one of the lucky ones. Not only did he face the Lions but he was also part of the only Australian team to win a series against them.

Not only that - he also played the decisive role - scoring two second half tries in the second Test in Melbourne to level the series and seize the momentum after the tourists won the opening match and led 11-3 early in game two.

Roff’s intercept try off English five-eighth Jonny Wilkinson was the turning point in the series the Wallabies went on to win 2-1.

Joe Roff scores a try in the second Test in Melbourne. Picture: Sean Garnsworthy/ALLSPORT

“It was one of those moments where in essence the Lions were on attack,” Roff recalled.

“Jonny Wilkinson was coming around and it created an overlap and so it was a sort of a split decision and to come out of the line, which was technically not the right thing to do in terms of our defensive structure.

“But you’re in this moment where you’re facing a two-on-one overlap so you make a split decision and I guess for us it was one of the first moments where we truly turned defence into attack.”

With the spring back in their step, the Wallabies headed to Sydney with renewed belief but wary the job was only half done.

The Lions had belted the Australians in the opening test at Brisbane and with a huge squad, they had plenty of players at their disposal for one last push.

“You’re always pleased but it wasn’t jubilation because it was one of those test matches where you realise this is a genuine series,” Roff said.

“A lot of test matches are one-offs, even when they’re part of a Tri-Nations or other tournaments, but this was a proper series so we knew that game three was going to be decisive in how the history books would write that.”

John Eales, the Wallabies skipper, said he always believed his team could turn things around, but Roff’s intercept started it.

“Even though the scores at halftime were almost identical in Brisbane and Melbourne,” Eales said.

“Unlike Brisbane, people were flustered, and we felt that it was about to happen.

“We were a bit lucky maybe with Joe Roff’s intercept try but it happened so quickly.

“We ended up winning that second Test by more than they won the first Test so it really sort of rolled for us from that moment and validated the tactics that we went into that game with.”

Wallabies captain John Eales and Joe Roff celebrate one of their many successes as teammates. Picture: AAP

The pain from losing the first Test so convincingly was still weighing on the Wallabies head to Sydney.

They weren’t used to losing any matches weren’t used to playing in front of hostile crowds on home soil after the Lions’ supporters turned up in massive numbers.

“I guess the only word to describe it was we were shocked,” Roff said.

“We were comprehensively beaten, which I think was an enormous reality check for all of Australian rugby supporters because we had such wonderful success for the last four years.

“Suddenly we were really put in our place in that test by a great Lions side.”

Australia’s build up to the Sydney Test didn’t start well. Stephen Larkham and David Giffin were both ruled out with injuries, replaced by Elton Flatley and Justin Harrison, who was thrown into the centre of a media storm when Lions’ utility back Austin Healey derided the Australian in a UK newspaper column.

Harrison, who was a flatmate of Roff in Canberra at the time, got the last laugh when he was picked for his Test debut and pinched a critical lineout that helped seal a famous win.

“I reflect back on the series and think probably more than at any other time we can say we beat the world’s best,” Roff said.

“If you go through that Lions side in 2001 the number of people who are now considered greats of the game in that Lions squad. I think it’s a pinnacle because you’re essentially a single nation playing against the northern hemisphere on some level.

“It’s only in retrospect that we can sit back and appreciate the enormity of what it meant to rugby in Australia to win a series against them. The fact that that’s only happened once you can’t help but have a sense of pride to have been a small part in that team that did that.”

Originally published as Joe Roff: Wallabies’ 2001 Lions series success remains Australia’s greatest of rugby’s golden age