2025 British & Irish Lions tour to Australia

Last updated

2025 British & Irish Lions tour to Australia
Date28 June – 2 August 2025
Coach(es) Andy Farrell

The 2025 British & Irish Lions tour to Australia is an international rugby union tour scheduled to take place in Australia between June and August 2025. The British & Irish Lions, a team selected from players eligible to represent England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales, are scheduled to play a three-match test series against the Australia national team, as well as matches against Australia's four Super Rugby franchises, one against an invitational side made up of players from Australia and New Zealand, and another match against a side made of players with First Nations and Pasifika origin. The Lions were also due to play against the Melbourne Rebels Super Rugby franchise, but they were disbanded in 2024; the match against the First Nations & Pasifika XV was scheduled instead. Ireland coach Andy Farrell was appointed as the Lions' head coach for the tour in January 2024.

Contents

Schedule

The fixtures for the tour were announced on 19 July 2023. [1] The tour will culminate with a three-match test series between the British & Irish Lions and the Australia national team, and will also feature matches against Australia's five Super Rugby franchises. The Lions will open the tour with matches against the Western Force, Queensland Reds, New South Wales Waratahs and ACT Brumbies; they were scheduled to face the Melbourne Rebels in the week between the first and second tests, but the Rebels were disbanded at the end of the 2024 Super Rugby Pacific season after going into administration earlier in the year. [2] A match against a team of players with indigenous Australian and Pacific Islander heritage was proposed in its place in November 2024 [3] and confirmed in March 2025. [4] The week before the first test, they will play a match in Adelaide against an invitational team made up of players from Australia and New Zealand. [1] [5] A warm-up match against Argentina, to be played at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin on 20 June 2025, was announced on 7 December 2023; it will be the Lions' first ever match in Ireland. [6]

DateHome teamScoreAway teamVenueDetails
20 JuneBritish & Irish Lionsv Argentina Aviva Stadium, Dublin Match details
28 June Western Force vBritish & Irish Lions Perth Stadium, Perth Match details
2 July Queensland Reds vBritish & Irish Lions Lang Park, Brisbane Match details
5 July New South Wales Waratahs vBritish & Irish Lions Sydney Football Stadium, Sydney Match details
9 July ACT Brumbies vBritish & Irish Lions Canberra Stadium, Canberra Match details
12 July Invitational AU & NZ vBritish & Irish Lions Adelaide Oval, Adelaide Match details
19 July Australia vBritish & Irish Lions Lang Park, Brisbane Match details
22 JulyFirst Nations & Pasifika XVvBritish & Irish Lions Docklands Stadium, Melbourne Match details
26 July Australia vBritish & Irish Lions Melbourne Cricket Ground, Melbourne Match details
2 August Australia vBritish & Irish Lions Stadium Australia, Sydney Match details

Venues

Sydney Melbourne
Sydney Football Stadium Stadium Australia Melbourne Cricket Ground Docklands Stadium
Capacity: 42,500 [7] Capacity: 83,500 [8] Capacity: 100,024 [9] Capacity: 56,347 [10]
SydneyFootballStadium Aug2022 Pre-open.jpg 2022 NRLGF stadium.jpg 2017 AFL Grand Final panorama during national anthem.jpg Marvel Stadium from an aerial perspective. Feb 2019.jpg
Brisbane Adelaide
Lang Park Adelaide Oval
Capacity: 52,500 [11] Capacity: 53,500 [12]
Suncorp Stadium, April 2024 (Reds v Blues).jpg Adelaide city centre view crop (cropped).jpg
Perth Canberra
Perth Stadium Canberra Stadium
Capacity: 60,000 [13] Capacity: 25,000 [14]
Perth Stadium opening 210118 gnangarra-12.jpg BruceStadium19032005.JPG

Squad

Ireland head coach Andy Farrell was appointed as the Lions' head coach for the tour in January 2024. He takes over from former Wales head coach Warren Gatland, who had led the team on the previous three tours. Farrell was one of Gatland's assistant coaches on the 2013 and 2017 tours to Australia and New Zealand, respectively. [15] [16]

Farrell announced his five assistant coaches on 26 March 2025. [17] Three of the coaches selected worked directly under Farrell at Ireland – defence coach Simon Easterby, scrum coach John Fogarty and attack coach Andrew Goodman. [18] Forwards coach John Dalziel was selected from Scotland, whilst Richard Wigglesworth (who previously worked under Farrell as a player at Saracens) was selected from England. For all five assistant coaches, this would be their first involvement on a Lions tour, although Easterby had toured as a player in 2005. [19] It would also be the first tour since 2001 without any representation from Wales among the coaches. [20]

Management and staff

Management
RoleName
Chairman Flag of Wales (1959-present).svg Ieuan Evans
Chief executive Flag of England.svg Ben Calveley
Coaches
RoleNameUnion / Club
Head coach Flag of England.svg Andy Farrell IRFU flag.svg  Ireland
Assistant coach Flag of Scotland.svg John Dalziel Flag of Scotland.svg  Scotland
Assistant coach IRFU flag.svg Simon Easterby IRFU flag.svg  Ireland
Assistant coach IRFU flag.svg John Fogarty IRFU flag.svg  Ireland
Assistant coach Flag of New Zealand.svg Andrew Goodman IRFU flag.svg  Ireland
Assistant coach Flag of England.svg Richard Wigglesworth Flag of England.svg  England
Performance staff
RoleNameUnion / Club
General manager Flag of Australia (converted).svg David Nucifora Flag of Scotland.svg  Scotland
Head of athletic performance Flag of Wales (1959-present).svg Aled WaltersIRFU flag.svg  Ireland
Head of analysis IRFU flag.svg Vinny HamondIRFU flag.svg  Ireland
Operations
RoleNameUnion / Club
Director of operations Flag of England.svg Charlotte GibbonsFlag of England.svg  England
Head of communications Flag of England.svg Jonny Fordham Flag of England.svg Premiership Rugby

Matches

British & Irish Lions v Argentina

Western Force v British & Irish Lions

Queensland Reds v British & Irish Lions

New South Wales Waratahs v British & Irish Lions

ACT Brumbies v British & Irish Lions

Invitational AU & NZ v British & Irish Lions

Australia v British & Irish Lions (first test)

First Nations & Pasifika XV v British & Irish Lions

22 July 2025
19:45 AEST (UTC+10)
First Nations & Pasifika XVv British & Irish Lions
Docklands Stadium, Melbourne

Australia v British & Irish Lions (second test)

Australia v British & Irish Lions (third test)

Broadcasting rights

TerritoryRights holderRef.
Flag of Australia (converted).svg  Australia [21]
[22] [23]

Notes

  1. ↑ All Australia matches are televised free-to-air on Nine.

References

  1. 1 2 Jones, Chris (19 July 2023). "British and Irish Lions to play combined New Zealand-Australia XV on 2025 tour". BBC Sport. Retrieved 21 July 2023.
  2. ↑ "Melbourne Rebels to be dropped from Super Rugby after Rugby Australia reject rescue deal". Sky Sports. 30 May 2024. Retrieved 10 September 2024.
  3. ↑ "Lions to face indigenous-heritage team in Australia". BBC Sport. 19 November 2024. Retrieved 26 December 2024.
  4. ↑ "First Nations & Pasifika XV set for historic match during Lions Series". RugbyPass. 20 March 2025. Retrieved 20 March 2025.
  5. ↑ "Rugby Australia revives Anzac XV for 2025 British and Irish Lions tour". ABC News . 19 July 2023. Retrieved 21 July 2023.
  6. ↑ "British and Irish Lions: Dublin to host match with Argentina ahead of 2025 tour to Australia". BBC Sport. 7 December 2023. Retrieved 7 December 2023.
  7. ↑ "New $828m Sydney stadium to open with NRL, Wallabies and Matildas games". Guardian Australia . 9 June 2022. Archived from the original on 10 June 2022.
  8. ↑ "About Accor Stadium". venuesnsw.com. Venues NSW.
  9. ↑ Kowalski, Kuba (31 March 2023). "Australia: The country's largest stadium will get even bigger?". StadiumDB.com .
  10. ↑ "Marvel Stadium". austadiums.com.
  11. ↑ "Celebrating 20 Years of Suncorp Stadium". populous.com. Populous. 31 May 2023.
  12. ↑ "Adelaide Oval". afl.com.au. Australian Football League (AFL).
  13. ↑ "Seating Capacity". optusstadium.com.au. Optus Stadium.
  14. ↑ "About GIO Stadium Canberra". giostadiumcanberra.com.au. GIO Stadium. 4 March 2017.
  15. ↑ "Andy Farrell named British and Irish Lions head coach for 2025 tour to Australia". BBC Sport. 11 January 2024. Retrieved 11 January 2024.
  16. ↑ "British & Irish Lions Tour: Andy Farrell appoints first backroom staff". ESPN. 28 January 2025. Retrieved 11 February 2025.
  17. ↑ "Assistant coaches announced for 2025 Australia tour". British and Irish Lions. 26 March 2025. Retrieved 26 March 2025.
  18. ↑ Skippers, David (26 March 2025). "Andy Farrell gives his view on the British and Irish Lions assistants and the importance of 'cohesion of the coaching staff'". Planet Rugby. Retrieved 26 March 2025.
  19. ↑ Latham-Coyle, Harry (26 March 2025). "Who are the British and Irish Lions assistant coaches and why have they been appointed?". The Independent. Retrieved 26 March 2025.
  20. ↑ "British and Irish Lions announce full coaching team as Welsh coaches miss out". Wales Online. 26 March 2025. Retrieved 26 March 2025.
  21. ↑ Robinson, Georgina (23 March 2023). "Nine extends rugby deal as RA plots next chapter". The Sydney Morning Herald . Nine Entertainment. Archived from the original on 29 March 2023.
  22. ↑ "Sky Sports to exclusively show 2025 British and Irish Lions tour of Australia; three Tests and six warm-ups". Sky Sports . Sky Group. 2 November 2023. Archived from the original on 5 November 2023.
  23. ↑ McCaskill, Steve (2 November 2023). "Sky Sports secures UK broadcast rights to 2025 Lions tour of Australia". SportsPro . Archived from the original on 12 July 2024.
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