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George North picked up Israel Folau and carried him down the field during the second Test of the 2013 series
Twelve years is a long time, and not just in sport.
George North is practicing yoga in the winter sunshine on the north bank of the Brisbane River in June 2025, under Story Bridge's shadow. "It's probably the most Australian thing I've ever done," says the former Wales winger.
The sedate scene is worlds away from the pulsating energy of the moment in 2013 when North entered British and Irish Lions folklore.
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No, not the finger-wagging 60-metre solo try in the first Test - as jaw-droppingly brilliant as it was.
It's the 60th minute of the second Test in Melbourne. North has just collected a through-the-legs pass from Brian O'Driscoll and is faced by his opposite number Israel Folau, a winger of similar 6ft 4in and 17-stone stature, with nowhere to go.
North decides to pump his legs after appearing to be caught in Folau's tackle. With the ball in his hand, he picks up his opponent and uses the Australia winger, who is now upside down on North's back, as an improvised human battering ram. Wallabies were being knocked over like skittles.
"A bit silly to be honest," is the way North remembers it. "Not my best idea," he adds.
Iconic moments have come to define the 137-year history of the Lions. The drop goals scored by JPR or Jeremy Guscott, Robert Jones squared off against Nick Farr-Jones, the team meeting between Sir Ian McGeechan and Jim Telfer, Matt Dawson's dummy, O'Driscoll's attempt to cut through butter—the list goes on and on. That North's moment occurred in the second Test, the one the Lions lost by a single point, is almost forgotten. It came to define the 2-1 series victory over Australia in 2013.
North reveals that when he meets Lions fans, as he did on his recent 10-day working holiday in Australia, there is one thing they want to talk about.
He states, "It's probably the Izzy Folau carry." "Then it moves on to the try, with all of the drama and excitement that the Test series brought. Going to the decider [in 2013] was incredibly special as a player, but as a fan it was also as incredible.
"I never thought I'd be able to play for the Lions, playing for your country for me is the biggest honour anyone can award you and I never thought I'd be in the conversation to be a Lion, let alone tour two times.
"But to then say you've had an impact that people remember, an iconic moment, it doesn't half put a smile on my face."
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