Editing British & Irish Lions (section)

===Lions non-tour and home matches===
{{Main|History of rugby union matches between the British & Irish Lions and other countries}}
The Lions have played a number of other matches against international opposition. With the exception of the matches against Argentina in 2005 and Japan in 2021, which were preparation matches for Lions tours, these matches have been one-offs to mark special occasions.

The Lions played an unofficial international match in 1955 at [[Cardiff Arms Park]] against a Welsh XV to mark the 75th anniversary of the [[Welsh Rugby Union]]. The Lions won 20–17 but did not include all the big names of the 1955 tour, such as [[Tony O'Reilly]], [[Jeff Butterfield]], Phil Davies, [[Dickie Jeeps]], [[Bryn Meredith]] and [[Jim Greenwood (rugby union)|Jim Greenwood]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.lionsrugby.com/history/411.php |title=Lions at Home |archive-date=16 July 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120716202148/http://www.lionsrugby.com/history/411.php |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.wru.co.uk/eng/news/12184.php |title=International legends celebrate WRU landmark |date=15 December 2005 |access-date=24 October 2012 |publisher=wru.co.uk |archive-date=17 November 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141117143507/http://www.wru.co.uk/eng/news/12184.php |url-status=live }}</ref>

In 1977, the Lions played their first official home game, against the [[Barbarians FC|Barbarians]] as a charity fund-raiser held as part of the [[Silver Jubilee of Elizabeth II|Queen's silver jubilee]] celebrations. The Barbarians line-up featured J. P. R. Williams, Gerald Davies, Gareth Edwards, Jean-Pierre Rives and Jean-Claude Skrela. The Lions included 13 of the team who played in the fourth test against New Zealand three weeks before and won 23–14.<ref>{{cite web |last=Seeckts |first=Richard |title=Lions prevail in Queen's silver jubilee celebrations |url=http://www.espn.co.uk/scrum/rugby/story/183995.html |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130616025814/http://www.espn.co.uk/scrum/rugby/story/183995.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=16 June 2013 |work=espnscrum.co.uk |access-date=5 June 2013 }}</ref>

In 1986, the Lions' planned tour to South Africa was cancelled for political resons, because of [[Apartheid]] in South Africa. A match was organised against [[The Rest (rugby union)|The Rest]] as a celebration to mark the [[World Rugby|International Rugby Board]]'s centenary. The Lions lost 15–7.

In 1989, the Lions [[France vs British Lions (1989)|played against France in Paris]]. The game formed part of the celebrations of the bi-centennial of the French Revolution. The Lions, captained by [[Rob Andrew]], won 29–27.

In 1990, a [[Four Home Unions XV|Four Home Unions]] team played against the [[Rest of Europe XV|Rest of Europe]] in a match to raise money for the rebuilding of Romania following the overthrow of [[Nicolae Ceaușescu]] in December 1989. The team used the Lions' logo, while the Rest of Europe played under the symbol of the [[Federația Română de Rugby|Romanian Rugby Federation]].