These Lions still hold many records

The 1959 All Black-Lions’ test series was one of the most controversial in history.

The huge crowds – bigger than the record numbers who’d witnessed the Springbok series only three years earlier – were testimony to the way the tourists captured the public’s imagination.

Sixty-three thousand spectators – more than will be at the 2011 World Cup final – packed Eden Park for the fourth test, even though the series was by then decided. And people were left wondering: just who really were the Kings of Rugby?

Has rugby ever known, before or since, a team that announced all-round genius as did these Lions? The tourists played scintillating, exhilarating and glorious rugby on the tour. All Black captain Wilson Whineray told the author they were “potentially the finest side I ever played against.”

Against this red tide, the All Blacks had among their trump cards, one Don Clarke – the greatest goal-kicker the world has ever known – and a strong desire to hold onto the ‘world crown’ they’d wrested from the Springboks.

The Lions scored 845 points on their five-month tour – remarkably rivalling the mythical 1905 All Black Originals’ 868 points (both teams played 33 matches overall).

The Lions remain the highest-scoring side ever to tour Down Under. Individual records, such as Tony O’Reilly’s 17 tries in New Zealand, and others, are unlikely ever to be broken.

In Kings of Rugby, the wonderful story of the Lions’ tour and the test series is told through the eyes of the players and the journalists and  ‘fans’ who witnessed the tour – both when the tour took place and looking back a half-century in time. Beautiful, prolific photography sets off this remarkable book.