British and Irish Lions versus Wallabies at Suncorp Stadium; when is it and how to watch
Former Bronco Ben Te’o jumped codes, and countries, to represent England and the Lions in international rugby - now he reveals the secret sauce to team bonding on tour.
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When you ask teams from four different nations to sing from the same song sheet there’s really only one way to do it … bring in a choirmaster.
Former Brisbane Bronco Ben Te’o who played for the British and Irish Lions in their epic drawn series against New Zealand in 2017, revealed a quirky move was the secret sauce to team bonding on that tour.
“We had a choirmaster who taught us four songs,’’ Te’o said.
“One from each nation (Calon Lân from Wales, The Fields of Athenry from Ireland, Jerusalem from England and Highland Cathedral from Scotland.
“We would have choir practice in the afternoon. That was quite an interesting activity.
“I will never forget once we had learned some of the songs we ended up out at dinner and had the restaurant to ourselves. The red wine was flowing. We started singing.
“Those are the moments you never forget. We booked upstairs in an Irish pub and had a ripper of a night and had a couple of days off after that.
“From then on we were pretty bonded as a team.’’
Asked to describe the different flavours of the four nations Te’o said …
The Scots: “They are always the underdogs, Very passionate. I have witnessed that first hand at Murrayfield and lost to them. They have a lot of passion because they understand they don’t have the depth of the other nations. They rip in.’’
The English: “A lot of the English guys who played rugby are from private schools. They are smart, well educated guys.
The Irish: “They are funny guys. Great sense of humour. And amazingly skilful. Some of the skills they learn playing other sports such as Gaelic Football in their youth mean they can do a lot of special things.’’
The Welsh: “It’s a rugby nation. Good fellas. Very talented. They like a drink.’’
Originally published as British and Irish Lions versus Wallabies at Suncorp Stadium; when is it and how to watch
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