LONG READ Mick Cleary: 'The MCG gave us the occasion we craved. It gave us memories. And that is priceless.'

History is written by the winners and no matter how valiant and feisty and deserving the Wallabies were, no matter how marginal the Jac Morgan clear-out decision was, no matter how squeaky-bum time Hugo Keenan’s winner was, these 2025 Lions will go down as landmark victors: the first to claim back-to-back series in the same country and the first to come back from an 18 point deficit. Chapeau!

It doesn’t matter that much what happens now in Sydney, except perhaps for the possible embellishment of the series scoreline in favour of the Lions. A 3-0 clean sweep would be quite the achievement but it is not an imperative. Winning the series is what counts. One of the many appeals of a Lions tour is that it is not about development or performance or growth or potential. Its significance lies only in the moment. These tourists have no future beyond the final whistle next Saturday night in Sydney. It’s over. It’s Goodnight Irene. It’s in the record books. To the Lions, the spoils: to the Wallabies, tough titty.

Those are the stakes and the Lions had enough chips on the table to hit the jackpot. They may not have merited it on the run of play but, tell me, did the Lions in 1997? Hard to remember isn’t it, even though the essence of that series victory – and this series is the first time since then that the Lions have led 2-0 in a series – were the boots of Neil Jenkins and Jeremy Guscott. The Springboks scored the tries, the Lions kicked the goals.

There are many factors to weigh up about this win at the MGC but it’s unlikely many of those present will be able to readily recall quite what happened until they manage to scramble in the rubble of their hard celebrations to piece together sufficient memory cells. The parties, for player and fan alike, are well-deserved. There is no such thing as an unworthy Lions victory. So many hurdles have to be overcome that any last-gasp win has its own vindication. The scoreboard is the only ready reckoner in town.

Much as Andy Farrell may want it to be so, these are not the greatest tourists ever to have worn the red jersey. That accolade belongs back to the classes of the early 70s. But they have been a fine bunch of people and will be recalled with fondness and admiration. They have applied themselves to the task with proper vigour and humility, respecting the cause, respecting the challenge and respecting each other. That is what got the Lions over the line – collective willpower, a never-say-die attitude fostered over the last seven weeks, a sense of the badge and doing justice to those who have gone before them. Those are noble values and not easily fostered. Sport should be about heart and soul as much as it is about muscle and bone.

The Wallabies stood up to be counted. This was a proper test match. If it hadn’t been then the questions about bumping Australia from the schedule would have had great legitimacy.

It is no intended slight to say that few of these tourists would trouble the selectors of an all-time Lions XV. Finn Russell maybe but could you really go against Barry or Benny? Peak Tom Curry? Perhaps, but there is fierce competition even within this 2025 group for that No.7 shirt. Maro Itoje, likewise, when set against the second-row pantheon. But in terms of tightness of squad, of a genuine sense of identity, of being in it together, then Andy Farrell’s squad can hold their heads high. They are up there with the best. As the 40,000-strong travelling army will testify.

As to the quality of the opposition, at least the Wallabies stood up to be counted. This was a proper test match. If it hadn’t been then the questions about bumping Australia from the schedule would have had great legitimacy. Their first half performance in Brisbane was woeful and unbecoming of a Lions test opposition. South Africa and New Zealand rarely slip from the highest standards which is why they will always rank as the blue riband fixtures in the calendar. Australia not only had to get back into the series in Melbourne, they also had to show that these occasions matter for the rugby public, never mind the wider sporting world.

The 80 minutes of action ranks with any such sporting footage seen at the famous old ground – cricket, AFL, whatever. The Wallabies gave it a crack and in so doing showed that the sport is beginning to roll back the stone from the seeming dead in that country. Joe Schmidt’s men have breathed life back into the Wallaby project. True, they may find it bloody hard to raise a gallop in Sydney but raise a gallop they must to prove to themselves that this was no fluke. Their anger and sense of injustice at referee Andrea Piardi’s decision may well be the fuel that fires up another performance of punch and feistiness. It was a marginal call and if it had gone against the Lions, then fair dinkum. In this era of head injury concern, then such calls have to be accepted. My own view is that Carlo Tizzano had also transgressed, in from the side but, far more importantly, also dropping below knee height as he entered the ruck. And as for his Hollywood dive – do me a favour.

A 3-0 whitewash may well be a delicious prospect but far more significant for this group will be a sense that they have genuinely been in it all together.

There were giants on show in Wallaby gold. In fact Australia had more impressive individual performers on the night than the Lions. Will Skelton and Rob Valetini were true to their billing while Tom Wright and Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii pointed the way to a bright future. These men have to come to the party all over again in Sydney.

There will probably be a different cast on view for the Lions. There has to be. A 3-0 whitewash may well be a delicious prospect but far more significant for this group will be a sense that they have genuinely been in it all together. Andy Farrell may see it differently, of course, and few can have any claim to criticising the head coach on the way he has gone about his work. He doesn’t need to go crazy but the likes of Scott Cummings, Finlay Bealham, Ben Earl and Henry Pollock deserve to be in the match-day squad at least with the impressive Ellis Genge starting. Maro must go the distance, too. The half-backs have been the stand-out performers on tour and should lead the way again. Garry Ringrose, please, if he is recovered, Blair Kinghorn too and perhaps Big Duhan.

The Lions can do no wrong whichever way they approach the final days. They have earned their stripes, warmed the cockles of so many hearts with their fightback and refusal to accept defeat in what was one of the single most compelling matches in Lions history. It may not have had the brutality of the 2009 second test in Pretoria but it did not want for intensity and drama.

The MCG gave us the occasion we craved, injecting life into what had been a humdrum series. Above all, it gave us memories. And that is priceless.