The British & Irish Lions Face Australia in a Promising Tour
This summer, the British & Irish Lions embark on an exciting tour of Australia, where they will face the Wallabies in a three-match series that promises to be memorable. Head coach, Andy Farrell, will seek to lead his team to their second series victory this century.
Key Dates of the Meetings
The Lions’ matches in Australia will be played at 7:45 p.m. AEST (10:45 a.m. BST), either on Saturday or Wednesday. The match dates are detailed below:
June 20 – vs. Argentina (in Dublin, Ireland)
June 28 – vs. Western Force
July 2 – vs. Queensland Reds
July 5 – vs. NSW Waratahs
July 9 – vs. ACT Brumbies
July 12 – vs. Australia & New Zealand Invitational XV
July 19 – vs. Australia
July 22 – vs. First Nations & Pasifika XV
July 26 – vs. Australia
August 2 – vs. Australia
Where to Watch the Lions Tour
Coverage of the tour will be available on Sky Sports in the UK and on Stan Sport in Australia. All three matches of the series will also be broadcast on Channel 9 in Australia.
In addition, you can follow all the action with updates and analysis on Alofoke Deportes.
The Lions’ Performance in Previous Tours
Relive the famous 1997 British and Irish Lions tour against the Rugby World Cup champion, South Africa.
The challenge for Andy Farrell is to guide the Lions to their second series victory in almost 30 years. Their only recent success was in 2013 in Australia.
In that summer, Warren Gatland’s team achieved a 2-1 series victory, including a resounding 41-16 win in the decisive match in Sydney. However, the two subsequent Lions teams have struggled to achieve the same feats.
The 2017 tour to New Zealand ended in a draw, with the All Blacks and the Lions winning one match each before drawing 16-16 in the final encounter in Auckland.
The 2021 tour to South Africa, which was played under the shadow of Covid, got off to a good start, with the Lions enjoying a 22-17 victory, but the Springboks won the following two matches and the series.
Relive the British and Irish Lions’ victorious 2013 tour of Australia, where the team achieved their first series win since 1997.
The Lions triumphed 2-1 in 2013, giving Warren Gatland a series victory in the first of his three tours as coach. The Lions defeated the Wallabies in Brisbane, but Australia tied the series in Melbourne a week later.
However, the visitors saved the best for last, with the Lions completely dominating the Wallabies 41-16 in Sydney, a result that ended Robbie Deans’ six years as Australia’s coach.
The Lions won all the matches of the tour, except one, their other defeat was against the ACT Brumbies in Canberra.
The Current State of the Wallabies
The situation couldn’t have been worse for Australia after the failure at the 2023 Rugby World Cup, with the team parting ways with coach Eddie Jones by mutual decision shortly after. However, the Wallabies were able to ascend from the international abyss under the command of Kiwi Joe Schmidt, who led them to a 6-7 record in 2024.
Schmidt expanded his network at the beginning of the season, before closing the year with the incorporation of no less than 19 debutants in tests. Although their last outing of 2024 was a defeat against Ireland in Dublin, the Wallabies had shown enough to suggest that the three-match series with the Lions was far from a predictable result. Australia’s victory over England at Twickenham restored confidence to Australian rugby.
Australia has a warm-up match against Fiji in Newcastle on July 6 before the first match of the series with the Lions.
The Lions Team
Head coach Andy Farrell announced his 38-player squad at the O2 Arena in London, with Maro Itoje named captain of the 2025 Lions. There were interesting decisions: Henry Pollock was included, while there was no place for Owen Farrell, Sam Prendergast, Darcy Graham, Tom Jordan, Jamie George, or George Ford.
There were also some notable injury absences: Caelan Doris was not selected due to a serious shoulder problem, while Zander Fagerson had to withdraw as he will not recover in time from a calf problem.
The Wallabies Team
Schmidt will confirm his Wallabies team to face the Lions after Australia faces Fiji on July 6. However, there are unlikely to be too many changes, aside from some injuries, from the 36-player squad he has assembled to face the Pacific Islanders.
The Kiwi backed their young trio of playmakers, rejecting calls for the return of James O’Connor and Bernard Foley in the process, and included only two uncapped players: winger Corey Toole and flanker Nick Champion De Crespigny.
The complete team that will prepare to face Fiji can be seen here.
