2025 British & Irish Lions tour to Australia

2025 British & Irish Lions tour to Australia
Date28 June – 2 August 2025
Coach(es)Andy Farrell
Tour captain(s)Maro Itoje
Opponent
P W D L
 Australia
Tour chronology
Previous tourSouth Africa 2021
Next tourNew Zealand 2029

The 2025 British & Irish Lions tour to Australia, known for sponsorship reasons as the Qatar Airways Lions Men's Series,[1] is an international rugby union tour taking 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 Australia, as well as matches against Australia's four Super Rugby franchises, one against an invitational team made up of players from Australia and New Zealand, and a match against a team made up of players with First Nations and Pasifika origin. Ireland coach Andy Farrell was appointed as the Lions' head coach for the tour in January 2024.

Schedule

The fixtures for the tour were announced on 19 July 2023.[2] The tour will culminate with a three-match test series between the Lions and the Australia, and will also feature matches against Australia's four 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.[3] A match against a team of players with indigenous Australian and Pacific Islander heritage was proposed in its place in November 2024[4] and confirmed in March 2025.[5] The week before the first test, the Lions will play a match in Adelaide against an invitational team of players from Australia and New Zealand.[2][6] A warm-up match against Argentina was played at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin on 20 June 2025. It was the Lions' first ever match in Ireland.[7]

Date Home team Score Away team Venue Details
20 June (Friday) British & Irish Lions 24–28 Argentina Aviva Stadium, Dublin Match details
28 June (Saturday) Western Force 7–54 British & Irish Lions Perth Stadium, Perth Match details
2 July (Wednesday) Queensland Reds 12–52 British & Irish Lions Lang Park, Brisbane Match details
5 July (Saturday) New South Wales Waratahs 10–21 British & Irish Lions Sydney Football Stadium, Sydney Match details
9 July (Wednesday) ACT Brumbies British & Irish Lions Canberra Stadium, Canberra Match details
12 July (Saturday) Invitational AU & NZ British & Irish Lions Adelaide Oval, Adelaide Match details
19 July (Saturday) Australia British & Irish Lions Lang Park, Brisbane Match details
22 July (Tuesday) First Nations & Pasifika XV British & Irish Lions Docklands Stadium, Melbourne Match details
26 July (Saturday) Australia British & Irish Lions Melbourne Cricket Ground, Melbourne Match details
2 August (Saturday) Australia British & Irish Lions Stadium Australia, Sydney Match details

Venues

Sydney Melbourne
Sydney Football Stadium Stadium Australia Melbourne Cricket Ground Docklands Stadium
Capacity: 42,500[8] Capacity: 83,500[9] Capacity: 100,024[10] Capacity: 56,347[11]
Brisbane
Adelaide
Lang Park Adelaide Oval
Capacity: 52,500[12] Capacity: 53,500[13]
Perth Canberra
Perth Stadium Canberra Stadium
Capacity: 60,000[14] Capacity: 25,000[15]

Squad

Lions Chair and tour manager Ieuan Evans announced a 38-player squad on 8 May 2025 at The O2 Arena in London. In a first for the Lions, the squad was announced in front of 2,000 fans.[16][17]

The squad is made up of 15 players from Ireland, 13 from England, 8 from Scotland and 2 from Wales.

English player Maro Itoje was named as the 47th Lions captain, becoming the second English player to lead the side in the professional era and the first since Martin Johnson in 2001.[a][19]

On 9 June, Scotland's Zander Fagerson withdrew from the squad ahead of the squad meet-up due to a calf injury and was replaced by Finlay Bealham.[20]

Due to wider squad availability during the final weeks of club competitions, Jamie George and Asher Opoku-Fordjour (both England) travelled with squad for their Portugal training camp to train with the squad.[21]

On 17 June, Jack van Poortvliet (England) joined up with the wider squad as scrum-half cover ahead of the Argentina test match on 20 June.[22]

On 30 June Ben White was called up to the squad to replace Tomos Williams who was injured during the Western Force match.[23]

On 3 July Owen Farrell was called up to the squad to replace the Elliot Daly who was injured during the Queensland Reds match.[24]

Notes: Ages listed are as of the first tour match on 20 June against Argentina. Bold denotes that the player was selected for a previous Lions squad. Italic denotes a player that withdrew from the squad following selection.

Player Position Date of birth (age) National team Club/­province National caps
(Lions caps) 		Notes
Luke Cowan-Dickie Hooker (1993-06-20)20 June 1993 (aged 32) England Sale Sharks 49 (3)
Rónan Kelleher Hooker (1998-01-14)14 January 1998 (aged 27) Ireland Leinster 38
Dan Sheehan Hooker (1998-09-17)17 September 1998 (aged 26) Ireland Leinster 32
Finlay Bealham Prop (1991-10-09)9 October 1991 (aged 33) Ireland Connacht 51 Replaced Zander Fagerson
Zander Fagerson Prop (1996-01-19)19 January 1996 (aged 29) Scotland Glasgow Warriors 75 Withdrew due to injury sustained before tour
Tadhg Furlong Prop (1992-11-14)14 November 1992 (aged 32) Ireland Leinster 79 (6)
Ellis Genge Prop (1995-02-16)16 February 1995 (aged 30) England Bristol Bears 71
Andrew Porter Prop (1996-01-16)16 January 1996 (aged 29) Ireland Leinster 75
Pierre Schoeman Prop (1994-05-07)7 May 1994 (aged 31) Scotland Edinburgh 42
Will Stuart Prop (1996-07-12)12 July 1996 (aged 28) England Bath 50
Tadhg Beirne Second row (1992-01-08)8 January 1992 (aged 33) Ireland Munster 61 (2)
Ollie Chessum Second row (2000-09-06)6 September 2000 (aged 24) England Leicester Tigers 28
Scott Cummings Second row (1996-12-03)3 December 1996 (aged 28) Scotland Glasgow Warriors 42
Maro Itoje (c) Second row (1994-10-28)28 October 1994 (aged 30) England Saracens 93 (6)
Joe McCarthy Second row (2001-03-26)26 March 2001 (aged 24) Ireland Leinster 19
James Ryan Second row (1996-07-24)24 July 1996 (aged 28) Ireland Leinster 72
Jack Conan Back row (1992-07-29)29 July 1992 (aged 32) Ireland Leinster 51 (3)
Tom Curry Back row (1998-06-15)15 June 1998 (aged 27) England Sale Sharks 61 (3)
Ben Earl Back row (1998-01-07)7 January 1998 (aged 27) England Saracens 42
Jac Morgan Back row (2000-01-21)21 January 2000 (aged 25) Wales Ospreys 23
Henry Pollock Back row (2005-01-14)14 January 2005 (aged 20) England Northampton Saints 1
Josh van der Flier Back row (1993-04-25)25 April 1993 (aged 32) Ireland Leinster 73
Jamison Gibson-Park Scrum-half (1992-02-23)23 February 1992 (aged 33) Ireland Leinster 43
Alex Mitchell Scrum-half (1997-05-25)25 May 1997 (aged 28) England Northampton Saints 23
Ben White Scrum-half (1998-05-27)27 May 1998 (aged 27) Scotland Toulon 25 Replaced Tomos Williams
Tomos Williams Scrum-half (1995-01-01)1 January 1995 (aged 30) Wales Gloucester 65 Replaced due to injury sustained in match against Western Force
Owen Farrell Fly-half (1991-09-24)24 September 1991 (aged 33) England Racing 92 112 (6) Replaced Elliot Daly
Finn Russell Fly-half (1992-09-23)23 September 1992 (aged 32) Scotland Bath 87 (1)
Fin Smith Fly-half (2002-05-11)11 May 2002 (aged 23) England Northampton Saints 11
Marcus Smith Fly-half (1999-02-14)14 February 1999 (aged 26) England Harlequins 44
Bundee Aki Centre (1990-04-07)7 April 1990 (aged 35) Ireland Connacht 65 (1)
Huw Jones Centre (1993-12-17)17 December 1993 (aged 31) Scotland Glasgow Warriors 58
Garry Ringrose Centre (1995-01-26)26 January 1995 (aged 30) Ireland Leinster 67
Sione Tuipulotu Centre (1997-02-12)12 February 1997 (aged 28) Scotland Glasgow Warriors 30
Tommy Freeman Wing (2001-03-05)5 March 2001 (aged 24) England Northampton Saints 21
Mack Hansen Wing (1998-03-27)27 March 1998 (aged 27) Ireland Connacht 28
James Lowe Wing (1992-07-08)8 July 1992 (aged 32) Ireland Leinster 40
Duhan van der Merwe Wing (1995-06-04)4 June 1995 (aged 30) Scotland Edinburgh 49 (3)
Elliot Daly Full back (1992-10-08)8 October 1992 (aged 32) England Saracens 73 (5) Replaced due to injury sustained in match against Queensland Reds
Hugo Keenan Full back (1996-06-18)18 June 1996 (aged 29) Ireland Leinster 46
Blair Kinghorn Full back (1997-01-18)18 January 1997 (aged 28) Scotland Toulouse 60

Management and staff

Ireland head coach Andy Farrell was appointed as the Lions' head coach for the tour in January 2024. He succeeded former Wales head coach Warren Gatland, who had led the team on their previous three tours. Farrell was one of Gatland's assistant coaches on the 2013 tour to Australia and 2017 tour to New Zealand.[25][26]

Farrell announced his five assistant coaches on 26 March 2025.[27] Three of the coaches selected worked under Farrell at Ireland – defence coach Simon Easterby, scrum coach John Fogarty and attack coach Andrew Goodman.[28] Forwards coach John Dalziel was selected from Scotland, whilst Richard Wigglesworth (who played under Farrell 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.[29] It would also be the first tour since 2001 without any representation from Wales among the coaches.[30]

On 17 April, Johnny Sexton was added to the coaching staff.[31] Sexton, who toured with the Lions as a player in 2013 and 2017, has been a coach with Ireland since 2024.

Management
Role Name
Chairman / Tour Manager Ieuan Evans
Chief Executive Ben Calveley
General Manager David Nucifora
Coaches
Role Name Union / Club
Head Coach Andy Farrell  Ireland
Assistant Coach John Dalziel  Scotland
Assistant Coach Simon Easterby  Ireland
Assistant Coach John Fogarty  Ireland
Assistant Coach Andrew Goodman  Ireland
Assistant Coach Johnny Sexton  Ireland
Assistant Coach Richard Wigglesworth  England
Performance staff
Head of Athletic Performance Aled Walters  Ireland
Head of Analysis Vinny Hamond  Ireland
Analyst Rhodri Bown  Wales
Head of Medical Dr Ciaran Cosgrave  Ireland
Team Doctor Dr Geoff Davies  Wales
Physiotherapist Keith Fox  Ireland
Physiotherapist John Miles  Wales
Soft-tissue Specialist Susie Gill  Wales
Kit Manager Mark Beels  Scotland
Operations
Director of Operations Charlotte Gibbons  England
Head of Communications Jonny Fordham Premiership Rugby

Matches

British & Irish Lions v Argentina

20 June 2025
20:00 IST (UTC+01)
British & Irish Lions 24–28 Argentina
Try: Aki 18' c
Penalty try 45'
Beirne 52' c
Con: F. Smith (2/2) 19', 53'
Pen: F. Smith (1/1) 9'		ReportTry: Mendy 11' m
Albornoz 40' c
Cordero 58' c
Con: Albornoz (2/3) 40+1', 53'
Pen: Albornoz (3/3) 4', 25', 39'
Aviva Stadium, Dublin
Attendance: 51,700
Referee: James Doleman (New Zealand)[32]

Western Force v British & Irish Lions

28 June 2025
18:00 AWST (UTC+8)
Western Force 7–54 British & Irish Lions
Try: White 4' c
Con: Donaldson (1/1) 5'		ReportTry: Sheehan 1' c
Williams (2) 16' c, 46' m
Daly (2) 35' c, 70' c
Ringrose 51' c
McCarthy 54' c
Mitchell 80' c
Con: Russell (5/6) 2', 16', 36', 52', 54'
M. Smith (2/2) 71', 80+1'
Perth Stadium, Perth
Attendance: 46,656
Referee: Ben O'Keeffe (New Zealand)[32]

Queensland Reds v British & Irish Lions

2 July 2025
20:00 AEST (UTC+10)
Queensland Reds 12–52 British & Irish Lions
Try: Toomaga-Allen 8' c
Flook 25' m
Con: McLaughlin-Phillips (1/2) 9'		ReportTry: Freeman (2) 19' c, 60' c
Porter 28' c
van der Merwe 35' c
Itoje 44' c
Morgan 55' c
Jones 65' m
Ringrose 80+4' m
Con: Russell (4/4) 20', 29', 36', 45'
F. Smith (2/4) 56', 61'
Lang Park, Brisbane
Attendance: 46,435
Referee: James Doleman (New Zealand)[32]

New South Wales Waratahs v British & Irish Lions

5 July 2025
20:00 AEST (UTC+10)
New South Wales Waratahs 10–21 British & Irish Lions
Try: Lancaster 34' m
Dobbins 41' m		ReportTry: Jones (2) 11' c, 32' c
Mitchell 54' c
Con: F. Smith (3/3) 12', 33', 55'
Sydney Football Stadium, Sydney
Attendance: 40,568[41]
Referee: Paul Williams (New Zealand)[32]

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

Australia v British & Irish Lions (second test)

Australia v British & Irish Lions (third test)

Broadcasting rights

Territory Rights holder[43] Ref.
Asia[b] Premier Sports Asia [43]
Australia
[44]
TV3[d] [43]
Canada DAZN [45]
France L'Équipe [46]
ProSieben Maxx [47]
Japan J Sports [43]
Latin America and Caribbean ESPN (Caribbean) [43]
MENA TOD [48]
Netherlands Ziggo Sport [43]
New Zealand
[49][50]
Nordic countries Viaplay [43]
Pacific Islands Digicel [43][51]
Portugal Sport TV [43]
Spain Movistar Plus+ [43][52]
Sub-Saharan Africa SuperSport [43]
[53][54]
United States
[43]

Notes

  1. ^ Martin Corry temporarily took over from Brian O'Driscoll as captain in the 2005 tour[18]
  2. ^ Excluding Japan
  3. ^ All Australia matches are televised free-to-air on Nine.
  4. ^ Test matches only
  5. ^ Test matches only
  6. ^ Non-test matches

References

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  3. ^ "Melbourne Rebels to be dropped from Super Rugby after Rugby Australia reject rescue deal". Sky Sports. 30 May 2024. Retrieved 10 September 2024.
  4. ^ "Lions to face indigenous-heritage team in Australia". BBC Sport. 19 November 2024. Retrieved 26 December 2024.
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  9. ^ "About Accor Stadium". venuesnsw.com. Venues NSW.
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  11. ^ "Marvel Stadium". austadiums.com.
  12. ^ "Celebrating 20 Years of Suncorp Stadium". populous.com. Populous. 31 May 2023.
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