The sell-out event was staged to help celebrate Queen Elizabeth II's Silver Jubilee and the Lions went on to beat the Baa-Baas 23-14. In June this year they will find themselves on opposite sides of the fence in Hong Kong.
There are parallels between the games in 1977 and 2013 in that new ground was broken with each fixture. The Lions had never officially selected a team to play a 'home' match up until 1977, when the team was made-up of players who had recently returned from New Zealand.
In fact, there were only two differences between the team that took the field for the fourth and final Test in Auckland and the side that started against a Gerald Davies led Barbarians XV.
Fast-forward to 2013 and the Lions will notch another 'first' when they play their first game in Hong Kong. The 1971 Lions landed in Hong Kong on their way to Australia, staging one training session before undergoing the second leg of their journey to Brisbane, but the 1 June fixture will be their first game there.
Quinnell was heavily involved in the 40th anniversary of 'the greatest try ever scored' over the weekend as the UK & Irish media once again paid tribute to Gareth Edwards' incredible opening score for the Baa-Baas against the All Blacks on 27 January, 1973.
It was the try that began with Phil Bennett gathering five metres from his line, side-stepping three New Zealand forwards in front of his posts and ended with Edwards racing 50 metres to score after the ball had gone through five pairs of hands.
The Baa-Baas, boasting 12 of the 1971 British & Irish Lions side that had won the series 2-1 in New Zealand, won the game 23-11 to underline their talent. The try has become the tribute to that team and has mustered more than 3 million hits down the years on the internet.
It was a try that was also accompanied by a brilliant piece of improvised commentary from the 1955 Lion Cliff Morgan. He wasn't even supposed to be doing the commentary, but moved into the hot seat when Bill McLaren pulled out with a cold.
To make matters worse, Morgan climbed into his commentary position high above the seats in the south stand at the Arms Park and realised he had left his notes and programme down below. Never mind, cue one of the great pieces of commentary.
"Kirkpatrick to Williams. This is great stuff. Phil Bennett covering, chased by Alistair Scown.
"Brilliant. Oh, that's brilliant. John Williams. Bryan Williams, Pullin, John Dawes. Great dummy.
"David. Tom David. The halfway line. Brilliant by Quinnell.
"This is Gareth Edwards. A dramatic start! What a score!
"Oh that fellow Edwards. Who can stop a man like that?
"If the greatest writer of the written word would have written that story, no one would have believed it."
If you want to watch the 'greatest try' then follow this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AwCbG4I0QyA
