The tour of Australasia in 1979 was a disastrous one in many ways. A number of players withdrew because of injury, and coach Eric Ashton was unable to fly out with his squad because his daughter had been involved in a car crash. Injuries during the tour caused three influential players to return home early, whilst attendance figures at tour matches were disappointing due to the lacklustre performances of the tourists, and led to a financial loss of over £300,000 on the trip. The Australian's, coached by Frank Stanton and captained by George Peponis, won the series 3–0. Australian centre Michael Cronin scored a total of 54 points for the series with two tries and 24 goals. Incredibly he outscored the Lions who only scored 18 points for the entire series, losing the first test 35–0 in Brisbane, and the second and third tests 24–16 and 28–2 in Sydney. Total attendance for the series was just 66,752 compared to the 133,791 who saw the three tests on the 1974 Lions tour. Critics from both Britain and Australia called the team the weakest and least committed touring side ever to tour Australia and that poor results had been the cause of such a dramatic drop in attendances.