A video of Alun-Wyn Jones’ team talk to the British and Irish Lions ahead of their third Test against Australia in 2013 has gone viral online.
The current Wales skipper was leading the Lions for the first time in his career after both the tour captain Sam Warburton and 2009 captain Paul O’Connell had succumbed to injuries.
The video was shared by the Lions on social media, and it sees the 35-year-old address his team twice on the day of the series-defining Test.
“Faz said there’s no tomorrow after today, there is. There’s a tomorrow, there’s one with this jersey that you’ll wear and it will remain on you until you finish playing, until you die, from today. And there’s a tomorrow without the jersey. We’ve got 80 minutes to choose which one we want.”
The clip also showed the Welshman’s team talk in the changing room moments before Warren Gatland’s side ran out at the ANZ Stadium.
“Just one simple thing from me. We’re hearing no separation in D, no separation in attack. Keep moving, don’t be lazy. Put it into one thing- don’t give up. And that’s not on 60 or 65, it’s from the first minute to the 80 plus, you don’t give up.
"On a kick chase, a jackal, fill it in. You don’t give up on anything for 80 minutes. The biggest mark of respect you can have is getting pulled off blowing out your arse, got nothing left to give. Do not give up on anything.”
The Lions went on to win the match 41-16 and secure a first series win since 1997 and first in Australia since 1989.
Jones’ former Lions second row partner O’Connell also has a legendary status for some of the rousing team talks he produced across his career.
There is no certainty who Gatland will choose to lead the Lions this summer in South Africa, or if the tour is even going ahead, but Jones is always a contender.
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