Australian Wallabies to face hostile crowd in own backyard for British and Irish Lions rugby Test Lions supporters are expected to be in fine voice at Suncorp Stadium. SUNCORP Stadium could be more like the Lions Den for Saturday night's blockbuster rugby Test as Brisbane braces for a British and Irish invasion. An estimated 25,000 British and Irish tourists are travelling with the Lions, leaving the Wallabies facing the ambush of a hostile reception in their own backyard. On the team's last tour, to South Africa in 2009, more than 30,000 Lions supporters dominated the 50,000-seat Loftus Versfeld Stadium in Pretoria. It is also a throwback to the last Lions tour of Australia in 2001 when the Gabba was bathed in a sea of red and Aussie fans were drowned out by the chants and war cries of Lions supporters. Even the Australian team was caught off guard by the fanatical support for the Lions, who spanked the home side 29-13. Those scenes have spurred the Australian Rugby Union in to action and 15,000 gold hunting helmets will be given to members of the crowd at Suncorp to ensure the local fans are not lost among the red tide of Lions fanatics. ARU CEO Bill Pulver said there would be no repeat of the 2001 debacle, when estimates of the Lions' contingent in the Gabba crowd ranged from 12,000 to 25,000 in the 36,000-seat arena. "Australia was caught unawares in 2001," he said. The sea of red was a dominant feature at the Gabba for the first Test and the Wallabies felt like they were playing away, at a stadium in the UK. We don't want a repeat of that here in 2013. Tickets to the first Test against the British and Irish Lions sold out months ago, with UK-based tour groups limited to 8000 seats. However, that figure does not take in to account any of the thousands of Poms who bought tickets individually through Australian friends or relatives. A steady stream of Lions supporters have been arriving in Brisbane over the past few days and that trickle will turn in to a flood following the last pre-Test tour match in Canberra against the ACT Brumbies on Tuesday. Londoner Richard Matthews has made the journey Down Under with a group of university rugby mates and expects the Aussie fans to be outnumbered on Saturday night. "We'll try and stand out, make us much noise as we can," he said. We got to Brisbane last weekend so it's now starting to pick up loads. We can see more people with fully-decked kilts and Lions shirts, which is great. I reckon it will be even busier by Saturday. Additional reporting Kimberley Vlasic