Key events
Pre-match reading
You lot out there must have an opinion or six about what is about to unfold; and no doubt you’ll have more as the game progresses. Don’t be shy, slap them “>in an email to me.
Team news
Joe Schmidt is without powerful forwards Rob Valetini and Will Skelton, taking away more ballast from the already uneven mismatch up front. There are debuts at openside for Nick Champignon de Crespigny and at stand-off for Tom Lynagh, son of Wallaby legend Michael who lost a Lions series in 1989. Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii has recovered to take his place at outside-centre, where much is expected of him, perhaps unfairly given the torrid time his forwards are expected to encounter.
A combination of injuries and Andy Farrell’s general pig-headedness has given us a Lions selection that could have been predicted in the main from a long way out. There is the small surprise of Tom Curry starting ahead of Josh van der Flier at 7, with the Irish breakaway out of the squad entirely with Ben Earl’s positional flexibility preferred on the bench.
Teams
Line-ups for this first Test:
Australia
Tom Wright, Max Jorgensen, Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii, Len Ikitau, Harry Potter, Tom Lynagh, Jake Gordon; James Slipper, Matt Faessler, Allan Alaalatoa, Nick Frost, Jeremy Williams, Nick Champion de Crespigny, Fraser McReight, Harry Wilson. Replacements: Billy Pollard, Angus Bell, Tom Robertson, Tom Hooper, Carlo Tizzano, Tate McDermott, Ben Donaldson, Andrew Kellaway.
British & Irish Lions
Hugo Keenan, Tommy Freeman, Huw Jones, Sione Tuipulotu, James Lowe, Finn Russell, Jamison Gibson-Park; Ellis Genge, Dan Sheehan, Tadhg Furlong, Maro Itoje, Joe McCarthy, Tadhg Beirne, Tom Curry, Jack Conan. Replacements: Ronan Kelleher, Andrew Porter, Will Stuart, Ollie Chessum, Ben Earl, Alex Mitchell, Marcus Smith, Bundee Aki.
Preamble
Welcome to the beginning of the business end of the Lions tour 2025. All of the performances, incredibly awkward and forced social media content, and speculation about who will be selected for the big one has led to this: Australia vs British & Irish Lions in Brisbane.
All of the talk in the build up has focused more on the margin of the expected Lions victory with the result an apparently foregone conclusion. The Wallabies are currently ranked 6th in the world, and have only climbed from 8th due to losses by Argentina and Scotland in recent weeks, while the visitors are pulling from a fuller stock of four nations.
But as the old saying goes, “if you’re so clever, why are you not rich?” and Andy Farrell knows the expectation and feels the weight this places on his unpadded shoulders. And speaking of clever, Joe Schmidt, a man with a rugby brain the size of the Lions updated tour squad, has a completely pressure free environment to let his synapses run riot with diabolical plans and tactics to derail the tourist’s putative victory caravan.
It’s remains a tall order for the home side and in a few hours we will know the true extent of its height.
Kick-off: 11am BST, 8pm AEST
