British and Irish Lions 2025 tour

July 08 2023, by Matthew Buckland, 3 min reading time

Canterbury have recently been announced as the apparel partner of the British and Irish Lions for their tour of Australia in 2025. So now seems like a pretty good time to take a little bit of a look at the tour, what the fixtures are and who might feature on the tour.

The Fixtures on the tour

In the last few months, the British and Irish Lions have officially announced all of the games for the British and Irish Lions tour of Australia in 2025. The headline fixtures are of course the three tests against Australia, but the tour is about much more than that.

Prior to the three Australian tests, the Lions will have three warmup games against Australian domestic teams. They begin with the Waratahs, before heading to Queensland to play against the Reds. They will then finish the warm-up games in Canberra against the Brumbies.

As with any Lions tour, there are also midweek games in between each test match. The Lions will play against a combined team of the Pacific Islands in between the first and second test, before playing an Anzac XV in between the second and third test. The exact order of the games could changes before the tour begins.

So, this means that the Lions will play against the very best player’s from Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, Tonga, Samoa and Papau New Guinea outside of their three test matches against the Wallabies.

It is set to be a very interesting tour, as Australia are not the team they once were. But with Eddie Jones at the helm, this could be a very different Wallabies team in a couple of years’ time.

Who could feature in the tour?

While we are two years away from the British and Irish Lions tour, there are some players who are almost guaranteed to head on the tour. It will likely be an Ireland heavy squad, considering how good Ireland have been over the last few years.

Irish players like James Ryan, Caelan Doris, Mack Hansen, Dan Sheehan and Hugo Keenan will almost definitely feature on the tour as they will all still be below the age of 30 when the squad sets off for Australia. From England, there is a very good chance that players like Marcus Smith, Freddie Steward and Ellis Genge will feature on the tour.

Scotland are likely to play a big part in the tour, much like they did in 2021. Finn Russell currently seems like the first choice to the Lions starting Fly-Half. There is a good chance he could have Sione Tuipolotu and Huw Jones outside of him if the pair continue their form.

Scottish player’s Jamie Ritchie, Duhan can der Merwe and Darcy Graham will also likely feature in the tour. It does seem likely that considering the mess that Wales are in at the moment, few Welsh names will feature in the squad. Louis Rees-Zammitt seems really the only nailed on player who will be in the Lions squad in two years.

This could be one of the most exciting Lions squads that we have ever seen, particularly if Ireland continue their form as the number one ranked team in the world.

You can find the latest British & Irish Lions rugby shirt and merchandise here - with Absolute Rugby.