The British and Irish Lions: Rousing speeches, wonder tries, kangaroo courts and more memorable moments

Remember you can hear live and exclusive commentary of every match on the 2013 British and Irish Lions tour to Australia on talkSPORT

As the 2013 British and Irish Lions prepare to head down under, chasing a first series win since the 1997 tour of South Africa, supporters will be hoping the series - which you can hear live on talkSPORT - throws up some more memorable moments such as the ones below. Everything from wonder tries to magnificent individual performances have been seen, so we are looking at some of our favourites...

This is your f***ing Everest, boys
These were the colourful words of Jim Telfer, the Lions back row veteran, who had toured twice in 1966 and 1968, addressing his troops during his stint as Ian McGeechan’s assistant in 1997. According to captain Martin Johnson, Telfer made grown men cry and his words certainly helped inspire his players to go out and, against the odds, beat the world champion Springboks. When the Scot spoke, the Lions listened and the '97 tour to South Africa has gone down in folklore thanks to the superb 'Living with the Lions' documentary. It offered a never before seen insight and, being the first tour since the game turned professional, emphatically answered questions as to whether the concept of the Lions was still viable.

Fighting fire with fire: The 99 call
“Get your retaliation in first,” Willie John McBride, captain of the famous 1974 Invincibles, told his team-mates. It was a simple instruction: when you hear the abbreviated emergency call - shouted if a team-mate was in trouble - simply smash the nearest South African to you. The referee could not send off the whole team, reasoned the skipper. The opposition didn’t like it and as the Lions continued to play them at their own game, as well as some magnificent rugby of their own, the 99 call has gone down in history. The touring team of bankers, solicitors and farmers left South Africa with a series win for the first time there in 78 years, going the entire three months unbeaten and only a disallowed Fergus Slattery try in the fourth Test denied the side a 100 per cent record, as they were forced to settle for a 13-13 draw.

Campo's corner
It was Aussie legend David Campese’s high profile blunder that led to an area of the Sydney Football Stadium being renamed in his honour after he allowed Ieuan Evans to score for the Lions and ultimately win the series. International rugby at the time in Australia was not overly popular, so the pressure was on for the Australian Rugby Union to fill their stadiums for the Lions visit in 1989, the first solely to take in Oz in 90 years. Finlay Calder captained the tourists, while Australia had some of the most talented players the world has seen in Campese, Nick Farr-Jones and Michael Lynagh. Following a thumping 12-30 defeat in the first Test, things were looking ominous for the Lions, however, the tables turned in the second test, as Jerry Guscott scored a superb try in a 19-12 win and announced his arrival to the world. But it was in the deciding Test match where the great Campese provided one of the most famous mistakes in Lions history, so click here to listen to David Campese telling talkSPORT about that try.

Guscott wins the 1997 series
South Africa were world champions at the time and the 1997 Lions were written off before the tour began, but left as legends. Having won the first Test 25-16, the team went into the second knowing a win would clinch the series. It was a very tight game where South Africa scored two tries, with the visitors failing to get over the whitewash, though the boot of Neil Jenkins kept them in the game, then Guscott turned up to put over the decisive drop goal. The tourists' magnificent defence held out for the remainder of the game and captain Martin Johnson celebrated a famous victory as his side joined the 1974 invincibles as the only Lions to have won in South Africa in the 20th century.

The perfect start
The sight of the Gabba at the first Test in 2001 is one that no Lion on that tour will forget. Players repeatedly say the sight of 20,000 red shirts as they walked on to the pitch in Australia was a huge psychological boost, and it's hard to argue with that as Jason Robinson opened the scoring in style after just three minutes. Billy Whizz skinned the great Chris Latham on the outside to send the travelling supporters crazy in one of the great Lions performances as they ran out 13-29 winners. Sadly the world champions dominated the second Test 35-14 and then squeezed home in the decisive third match with a 29-23 win. Can the Lions avenge their 2001 defeat this year?

Waltzing O'Driscoll
As well as Robinson's excellent effort, in the same match against the Aussies in Brisbane, there was a masterful solo try from 21-year-old debutant Brian O’Driscoll, who stole the headlines. It was the perfect start and though the Lions lost Down Under, the Irishman has become one of rugby’s finest players and in 2001, the travelling Lions fans began singing “Waltzing O’Driscoll” everywhere they went.

The King reigns in New Zealand
Welsh fly-half Barry John was so good on the 1971 Lions tour to New Zealand that Kiwi supporters nicknamed him 'The King'. John had toured with the Lions in 1968 but got injured, so was keen to make his mark a few years later. His kicking in the first test against the All Blacks was so accurate that opposition full-back Fergie McCormick never played for New Zealand again, such was the pressure he was under, and the Lions won 9-3, including two penalties from John. He then scored 12 points in the second 22-12 Test defeat, 10 points in the third Test victory, and another eight points in the fourth Test, a draw, as the Lions triumphed 2-1. He ended the tour having scored in every single match and 30 of the Lions 48 Test match points. Sadly, little video footage of John playing for Wales exists, let alone in a Lions jersey, but the video below gives an idea of his ability and also includes his try in the third Test in 1971.

Scott Gibbs bounces big Os Du Randt
Scott Gibbs was a hugely popular member of the 1997 touring party, as well as being an inspiration on the field and gave his side a huge psychological boost when he bounced 19 stone prop Du Randt out of the way. The South African was a symbol of everything the Springboks were and the Lions supposedly weren't; a strong scrummager, an enforcer, a world class macho man, but like in 1974, the Lions fought fire with fire, and decking the big man was a great illustration of running hard and not taking a backward step.

Blistering Bentley
“I just kept going effortlessly, defenders seemed to fall off me, in fact I think I beat one bloke about 40 yards out and he came back to make another attempted tackle as I went over the line,” John Bentley, the life of the Lions party said, when recounting his magnificent 60m try at Ellis Park in 1997. Bentley’s effort went down as one of the great Lions tries and he had only returned to rugby union in 1996 having spent the past eight playing professionally as a league player when union was still in its amateur days.

Here comes the Judge
Rugby had only recently turned professional but there was still a lot of amateur spirit in the squad in 1997 as seen in another clip from the excellent DVD, Living With Lions. In one scene, the players unwind from Jim Telfer’s training ground beastings by presiding over a player’s court, fining one another for various misdemeanours, while getting to see what Simon Shaw looks like dressed as Freddie Mercury, head coach Ian McGeechan necking whisky and Keith Wood relishing his role as the judge.