British and Irish Lions 2025 Tour: Dates, Venues, and Dream Squad Revealed

Every four years, a British and Irish Lions tour is still seen by many as the peak of professional rugby, with the finest players from England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland joining forces.

This summer, head coach Andy Farrell will take the Lions to Australia with the aim of winning a series in the southern hemisphere for the first time in 12 years. The tourists, however, suffered defeat in their
warm-up game against Argentina
in Dublin on Friday.

Skip to:

How to watch Lions on TV
Full fixture list
Latest team news
Lions squad
Lions coaches
Previous tours

How do I watch the 2025 Lions tour?

Sky Sports have exclusive rights to show all Lions matches this summer. For the opening match, against Argentina,
Owen Farrell was recruited as a pundit
. It is still possible that, following that match, Andy Farrell calls his son into the Lions squad, although Farrell Jr refused to open up on that possibility in an
interview with Gavin Mairs
.

Radio coverage of all matches is on TalkSport.

Telegraph Sport

will live blog every game too.

Fixtures: Full schedule and TV guide

The Lions played in Dublin against Argentina on Friday before travelling to Australia and commencing tour matches on June 28. The tour then runs throughout July, ending with the third and final Test against Australia on August 2.

Times shown below are UK (BST)

Friday, June 20 – 8pm

Lions 24 Argentina 28
(Aviva Stadium, Dublin)

Saturday, June 28 – 11am

vs Western Force (Optus Stadium, Perth) – Sky Sports Main Event

Tuesday, July 2 – 11am

vs Queensland Reds (Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane) – Sky Sports Main Event

Saturday, July 5 – 11am

BST

vs NSW Waratahs (Allianz Stadium, Sydney) – Sky Sports Main Event

Wednesday, July 9 – 11am

BST

vs ACT Brumbies (Gio Stadium, Canberra) – Sky Sports Main Event

Saturday, July 12 – 11am

BST

vs Australia & New Zealand Invitational (Adelaide Oval, Adelaide) – Sky Sports Main Event

Saturday, July 19 – 11am

BST

vs Australia – First Test

(Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane) – Sky Sports Main Event

Tuesday, July 22 – 11am

BST

vs First Nations and Pasifika XV (Marvel Stadium, Melbourne) – Sky Sports Main Event

Saturday, July 26 –

11am

BST

vs Australia – Second Test

(MCG, Melbourne) – Sky Sports Main Event

Saturday, August 2 –

11am

BST

vs Australia – Third Test

(Accor Stadium, Sydney) – Sky Sports Main Event

What is the latest news?

First, the good news for the Lions, they did not appear to suffer any tour-ending injuries against Argentina on Friday.

The bad news: They lost to Argentina 28-24 in the warm-up to their nine-game tour of Australia.

The result, humbling for now, will be regarded as a minor setback, maybe even an inspiration, if the Lions go on and win the three-test series against the Wallabies.

They led the Pumas for only 12 minutes in the entire match and had two prime attacking chances in the last four minutes. But their line-out maul was stopped in its tracks, then a Lions penalty in front of the posts was overturned due to a neck roll by Tadhg Beirne.

Despite a training camp in Portugal that was meant to help cement combinations, and nine English starters, the Lions still looked less cohesive and determined than Argentina, who were missing a dozen front-liners and had only two proper training runs.

The Pumas beat the Lions for the first time in a history between them that goes back to 1910. They also warmed up the 2005 Lions in Cardiff, and suffered heartbreak when Jonny Wilkinson landed a penalty in the 87th minute for a 25-25 draw.

No draw this time. The Pumas were ruthless with their chances, and matched the Lions with three tries. Two from inside their own 22 were the game’s highlights.

Who is in the Lions squad?

Farrell, the Lions head coach, has a headache at tighthead prop after Scotland’s Zander Fagerson was ruled out of the tour while doubts persist over the fitness of Ireland’s Tadhg Furlong.

Connacht’s Finlay Bealham has been called up to replace Fagerson who has been out with a calf injury since last featuring for Glasgow Warriors against Leicester Tigers on April 5.

Furlong, meanwhile, has started the last six Test matches for the Lions but has appeared in only eight matches this season.

Backs:

B Aki (Ireland), E Daly (England), T Freeman (England), J Gibson-Park (Ireland), M Hansen (Ireland), H Jones (Scotland), H Keenan (Ireland), B Kinghorn (Scotland), J Lowe (Ireland), A Mitchell (England), G Ringrose (Ireland), F Russell (Scotland), F Smith (England), M Smith (England), S Tuipulotu (Scotland), D van der Merwe (Scotland), T Williams (Wales).

Forwards:

F Bealham (Ireland), T Beirne (Ireland), O Chessum (England), J Conan (Ireland), L Cowan-Dickie (England), S Cummings (Scotland), T Curry (England), B Earl (England), T Furlong (Ireland), E Genge (England), M Itoje (England, capt), R Kelleher (Ireland), J McCarthy (Ireland), J Morgan (Wales), H Pollock (England), A Porter (Ireland), J Ryan (Ireland), P Schoeman (Scotland), D Sheehan (Ireland), W Stuart (England), J Van der Flier (Ireland).

Lions 2025 squad

Will Greenwood’s player-by-player verdict

Who is in the Lions coaching team?

England No 2 Richard Wigglesworth and Ireland’s recent interim boss Simon Easterby are Farrell’s assistant coaches.

Scotland forwards coach John Dalziel was recruited to Farrell’s management team and he is joined by Ireland’s John Fogarty, Andrew Goodman and Johnny Sexton.

Farrell is the only member of the staff with previous Lions coaching experience.

Simon Easterby

Age:

49

Current job:

Ireland interim head coach (normally in charge of defence)

Lions experience:

Zero tours as coach; one as a player

Coaching credentials:

A tourist as a rounded flanker on the ill-fated 2005 tour, Easterby won 65 caps for Ireland and another two for the Lions before taking the leap to coaching.

Easterby spent two years as the Scarlets defence coach before moving into the head coach role. In 2014, he then joined Joe Schmidt’s Ireland coaching team as forwards coach. He switched to defence in 2021 under Andy Farrell and took interim charge of Ireland in the 2025 Six Nations in Farrell’s absence. With Easterby as assistant, Ireland won two Six Nations titles (in 2023 and 2024) with one Grand Slam (in 2023).

Richard Wigglesworth

Age:

41

Current job:

England senior assistant coach (in charge of attack)

Lions experience:

Zero tours

Coaching credentials:

The youngest of Farrell’s assistants, the former England scrum-half transitioned into coaching while a player-coach at Leicester, leading a Premiership title victory with the Tigers. He then took the reins fully on a temporary basis upon Steve Borthwick’s departure to England in 2022.

Wigglesworth joined Borthwick before the 2023 World Cup and has been leading England’s attack since. Last year, he was promoted to senior assistant coach in Borthwick’s set-up and his inclusion is reward for England’s second-place Six Nations finish.

Andrew Goodman

Age:

42

Current job:

Ireland backs coach

Lions experience

: Zero tours

Coaching credentials:

The New Zealand-born Goodman is the sole “foreign” coach in Farrell’s cabal and has been running the Irish attack alongside the head coach since the 2024 Six Nations, when he replaced England World Cup winner Mike Catt.

Goodman was poached from Leinster, where he was the brains behind the province’s attack from the start of the 2022-23 season, having helped the Crusaders to the Super Rugby title a few months earlier. The former fly-half and centre – who played for Leinster between two stints in Japan – was also a part of Samoa’s coaching team at the 2023 World Cup. Ireland won the 2024 Six Nations with Goodman as an assistant.

John Dalziel

Age:

48

Current job:

Scotland forwards coach

Lions experience:

Zero tours

Coaching credentials:

A former flanker with Gala, Melrose, London Scottish and then the professional (now defunct) Border Reivers outfit, Dalziel joined the senior Scotland set-up as forwards coach ahead of the 2020-21 season.

Between his playing retirement and role alongside Gregor Townsend, he was the forwards and head coach at Melrose, the head coach of Scotland under-20s and sevens, and the forwards coach of London Scottish and then Glasgow. It was from the Warriors where he was poached by Townsend in 2020. Scotland won the most line-outs of any nation in the 2025 Six Nations under Dalziel’s tutelage.

John Fogarty

Age:

47

Current job:

Ireland scrum coach

Lions experience:

Zero tours

Coaching credentials:

Having began his playing career in 2000 for Munster, it took Fogarty another 10 years to win his first and only cap for Ireland, as a replacement in the loss to New Zealand. Fogarty, whose playing career was more well known for stints at hooker with Connacht and Leinster, did however make numerous appearances for Ireland A before his retirement because of concussion in 2010.

Upon retirement, Fogarty became an elite player development officer with Leinster, while also fulfilling the role of scrum coach with Ireland Under-20s. In June 2015 he became the senior scrum coach at Leinster before moving up to the international arena in 2020. As with Easterby, Ireland have won two Six Nations titles with one Grand Slam since Fogarty’s arrival.

Johnny Sexton

Age:

49

Current job:

Ireland (consultant)

Lost

3-1

1910 – South Africa

Lost

2-0

1908 – New Zealand and Australia

New Zealand

:

Lost

3-1 (4-match series)

Australia

:

Won

2-0 (2-match series)

1904 – South Africa

Lost

2-1 (3-match series)

1888 – New Zealand and Australia

New Zealand

:

Lost

1-0

Australia

:

Won

1-0

Sign up to the Front Page newsletter for free: Your essential guide to the day’s agenda from The Telegraph – direct to your inbox seven days a week.

Share this content: