Do the Lions sing a national anthem?
Sign up to our ROAR email for the latest news and analysis around this summer's SA tour Invalid Email Something went wrong, please try again later. Sign Up Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice  Before a Test match, it is customary for both teams to sing their national anthems. Particularly in Cardiff, it generates a huge atmosphere with more than 70,000 fans belting it out and the roof keeping all the noise in. It really adds to the occasion and there are some other great ones around the world. Flower of Scotland, La Marseillaise in France and Il Canto degli Italiani in Italy are right up there. The coming together of four nations makes things a little tricky as it's not practical to stand there and go through all four anthems. Therefore, the tourists do not sing an anthem before they play matches. When they play other international teams, they will line-up for the anthem but only for the other team to sing theirs. It hasn't always been this way, though. For the 2005 tour to New Zealand, the Lions infamously concocted an anthem called 'The Power of Four'. It was meant to bring the players closer together, they were given iPods with the song on and expected to learn the words. It was supposed to stir the emotions moments before kick off. It did anything but and was largely ridiculed before being tossed aside four years later. The 3-0 Test series thrashing at the hands of the All Blacks likely did little for the song's credibility. And so, after a brief flirtation with the idea, the Lions do not sing an anthem before matches these days.