2025 British & Irish Lions tour to Australia
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Now the Six Nations tournament has finished, I thought I'd have a go at naming a Test line-up for the British and Irish Lions.
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A. Porter (Ireland)
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R. Kelleher (Ireland)
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Z. Fagerson (Scotland)
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M. Itoje (England)
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T. Beirne (Ireland) (c)
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J. Conan (Ireland)
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T.Curry (England)
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B. Earl (England)
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J. Gibson-Park (Ireland)
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F.Russell (Scotland)
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J. Lowe (Ireland)
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B. Aki (Ireland)
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T. Freeman (England)
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D. Van der Merwe (Scotland)
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B. Murray (Wales)
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L. Cowan-Dickie (England)
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E. Genge (England)
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T. Furlong (Ireland)
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O. Chessum (England)
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R. Darge (Scotland)
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A. Mitchell (England)
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F.Smith (England)
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E. Daly (England)
Four Kiwis and a Saffa in the starting backline.
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@sparky Earl over Doris? Russell over Smith?
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@antipodean Doris looks out of sorts IMHO. He might of course recapture his form by the Lions tour. Ben Earl is adding more layers to his game.
Which Smith? Fin Smith Vs Finn Russell (the battle of the Finns) is a tight one for me, but I gave the starting nod to to Finn Russell because of experience. Marcus Smith is another one who looks out of sorts but could easily recapture form between now and July.
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Russell certainly plays a style that would trouble the Wallabies IMO. With quality centres and forwards to play off I think he will bring the best of both worlds in attack - play quick and close to the line, but also a territory game.
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Sparky in a crowded field you might be the biggest nuffie on here. Your team sucks dirty donkey dicks.
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@mariner4life said in 2025 British & Irish Lions tour to Australia:
Sparky in a crowded field you might be the biggest nuffie on here. Your team sucks dirty donkey dicks.
It's got Earls and Lowe, so it has the dickhead quotient covered
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I'd have Curry or Jac Morgan in there instead of Conan.
Marcus Smith will be in the 23 somewhere. I'd have him starting at 10.
Jones instead of Freeman at outside centre.
Kinghorn is locked in at 15
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@MiketheSnow said in 2025 British & Irish Lions tour to Australia:
Kinghorn is locked in at 15
And probably Darcey Graham.
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Blindside Flanker is an area of strength for the Lions. I think Farrell will go with Conan, but those are good options too.
Marcus Smith has really disappointed me in this 6 Nations and I have been a big fan in the past. He was comfortably England's worst back yesterday. That said, he could recapture form before July.
Huw Jones at 13 - fair enough. Quality player. But Tommy Freeman has done enough to tour and will feature at some point in the Tests I suspect. I'd have them both ahead of Ringrose based on what we've seen in 2025.
Not so sure about Kingshorn, but his goalkicking might get him the nod. I think they could go with Murray or Keenan. Fullback another position of strength for the Lions.
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@sparky said in 2025 British & Irish Lions tour to Australia:
- B. Murray (Wales)
Shout out to the former Cantab and all that, but there’s no way he’s starting ahead of Kinghorn. Murray probably won’t make the test 23, but should feature in the mid weekers.
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@ACT-Crusader I thought Blair Murray was Wales' best player yesterday by a country mile.
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@sparky said in 2025 British & Irish Lions tour to Australia:
@ACT-Crusader I thought Blair Murray was Wales' best player yesterday by a country mile.
Not hard to be fair...
Suspect he's behind Kinghorn, Furbank and probably Keenan while I'd expect Marcus Smith to tour as 10/15 cover too, so can't see Murray making it on the plane unless a couple of the other guys are injured.
Morgan and Tomos Williams are Wales' best bets. Morgan could be a good mid-week captain.
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@MiketheSnow said in 2025 British & Irish Lions tour to Australia:
Kinghorn is locked in at 15
Yeah, the Irish commentator in the France-Scotland game was talking up him as the fullback.
The other player he said should be a test starter, that hasn't been mentioned yet, is Zander Fagerson as the TH prop.
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@Dodge said in 2025 British & Irish Lions tour to Australia:
I’d start Finn Smith at 10 with Marcus on the bench. I’d pick the England back row, probably the England second row, and Will Stewart at tight head. Freeman will be at 13 or on one wing.
Could probably add the England loosehead, halfback, inside centre and back 3 to that. Maybe even the hooker too.
In all seriousness though, England has some quality players, with good coaching I think they'd easily account for Oz, so sprinkle in some Celts and it's all over down under.
