In 2005, the British & Irish Lions rugby union team toured New Zealand for the first time since 1993, playing seven matches against first and second division teams from the National Provincial Championship, one match against the New Zealand Maori team, and three test matches against New Zealand (the All Blacks). The Lions lost the test series 3-0, the first time in 22 years that they lost every test match on tour. The team was managed by former England and Lions player Bill Beaumont, coached by former England coach Sir Clive Woodward, and originally captained by Ireland captain Brian O'Driscoll. O'Driscoll suffered a controversial tour-ending injury two minutes into the first test, and Wales captain Gareth Thomas took over as captain for the final four games of the tour. The poor test results of the 2005 Lions, despite having one of the most experienced playing squads and the largest management team of any Lions tour, led to criticism of Woodward, particularly his selection policy, and prompted commentators to question the future of the Lions. This tour followed the Lions' 2001 tour to Australia and preceded the 2009 tour to South Africa. Schedule The Lions' campaign involved a warm-up match against Argentina (which was retroactively awarded test status by the International Rugby Board in March 2008) before the departure for New Zealand, three tests against the All Blacks, and several tour matches, where the quality of the opposition was expected to be high. This proved to be the case against New Zealand Maori and Auckland, and most of the other tour matches were close for at least the first half. But the match against Manawatu (the Lions' only opponent from the second division of New Zealand's domestic league, the National Provincial Championship) was a one-sided affair, the Lions winning by a score of 109–6. Squad The 44-man tour squad was announced on 11 April 2005, with 20 Englishmen, 11 Irishmen, 10 Welshmen and three Scots selected. Three further Englishmen were selected subject to them proving their fitness. The squad also included English players who had retired from international rugby (Neil Back, Lawrence Dallaglio), were returning from injury (Richard Hill and potentially Jonny Wilkinson, Phil Vickery and Mike Tindall), or had no international experience (Andrew Sheridan). The original 44-man squad was named as: Additions to the squad Injured England players Jonny Wilkinson, Phil Vickery and Mike Tindall were pencilled in, to be