2025 British & Irish Lions tour to Australia
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@Windows97 said in 2025 British & Irish Lions tour to Australia:
Are there more natural born kiwi's and Australian's in this Lions squad than Welsh players?
Yes
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@Mr-Fish said in 2025 British & Irish Lions tour to Australia:
@Bovidae said in 2025 British & Irish Lions tour to Australia:
NZR has been approached by RA to release some players for the Anzac XV. Robertson is open to allowing some fringe ABs to play in this fixture to give those players opportunities at near test level..
Ultimately, the Lions had to sign off on the team, which probably means there's a restriction on the number of capped internationals.
What would be the reasoning for wanting less capped players in the opposition though?
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@Bones said in 2025 British & Irish Lions tour to Australia:
@Mr-Fish said in 2025 British & Irish Lions tour to Australia:
@Bovidae said in 2025 British & Irish Lions tour to Australia:
NZR has been approached by RA to release some players for the Anzac XV. Robertson is open to allowing some fringe ABs to play in this fixture to give those players opportunities at near test level..
Ultimately, the Lions had to sign off on the team, which probably means there's a restriction on the number of capped internationals.
What would be the reasoning for wanting less capped players in the opposition though?
The warm-up games are only supposed to be a certain level of difficulty. Basically they don't want to be playing a whole extra Test midweek.
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@Mr-Fish said in 2025 British & Irish Lions tour to Australia:
@Bones said in 2025 British & Irish Lions tour to Australia:
@Mr-Fish said in 2025 British & Irish Lions tour to Australia:
@Bovidae said in 2025 British & Irish Lions tour to Australia:
NZR has been approached by RA to release some players for the Anzac XV. Robertson is open to allowing some fringe ABs to play in this fixture to give those players opportunities at near test level..
Ultimately, the Lions had to sign off on the team, which probably means there's a restriction on the number of capped internationals.
What would be the reasoning for wanting less capped players in the opposition though?
The warm-up games are only supposed to be a certain level of difficulty. Basically they don't want to be playing a whole extra Test midweek.
That's just you guessing though right? Or have they actually said that?
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@Bones my (not uneducated) understanding is that's how the tour is planned. I don't have absolute confirmation on that.
I'm guessing that when the replacement game was mooted by RA, one of the Lions' stipulations to ensure the level of challenge of the tour wasn't affected would have been limiting capped players (maybe a soft limit).
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From an article on The Roar from this weekend in reference to the ANZ side...
"Although Lions officials requested that an Australian A side be left off the heavy fixture list to ensure they aren’t playing effectively a ‘fourth’ Test, Kiss said his side weren’t approaching the match as a Barbarians clash and wanted to roughen up their opponents and set the tone for the series to come."
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Not far off my Test side
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For those in the UK with Sky but not Sky Sports all the matches are free to air on S4C the Welsh language channel
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@MiketheSnow said in 2025 British & Irish Lions tour to Australia:
Not far off my Test side
I’m happy with that team, especially given the unavailability of some guys but going forward I think the front row will change with maybe only Genge keeping his spot. I’d like to see a little more physicality in the back row and the 9 and 15 will be different.
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@Catogrande said in 2025 British & Irish Lions tour to Australia:
@MiketheSnow said in 2025 British & Irish Lions tour to Australia:
Not far off my Test side
I’m happy with that team, especially given the unavailability of some guys but going forward I think the front row will change with maybe only Genge keeping his spot. I’d like to see a little more physicality in the back row and the 9 and 15 will be different.
a lot of hard running but not a huge amount of playmaking in that midfield.
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@MN5 said in 2025 British & Irish Lions tour to Australia:
@Catogrande said in 2025 British & Irish Lions tour to Australia:
@MiketheSnow said in 2025 British & Irish Lions tour to Australia:
Not far off my Test side
I’m happy with that team, especially given the unavailability of some guys but going forward I think the front row will change with maybe only Genge keeping his spot. I’d like to see a little more physicality in the back row and the 9 and 15 will be different.
a lot of hard running but not a huge amount of playmaking in that midfield.
Tuipulotu has deft hands and is excellent at creating space.
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@Bones said in 2025 British & Irish Lions tour to Australia:
@MN5 said in 2025 British & Irish Lions tour to Australia:
@Catogrande said in 2025 British & Irish Lions tour to Australia:
@MiketheSnow said in 2025 British & Irish Lions tour to Australia:
Not far off my Test side
I’m happy with that team, especially given the unavailability of some guys but going forward I think the front row will change with maybe only Genge keeping his spot. I’d like to see a little more physicality in the back row and the 9 and 15 will be different.
a lot of hard running but not a huge amount of playmaking in that midfield.
Tuipulotu has deft hands and is excellent at creating space.
Good point. Most Scotsmen are
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Does Temu Nonu still have the legs for representative rugby? This must be his swan song surely?
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@MN5 said in 2025 British & Irish Lions tour to Australia:
@Bones said in 2025 British & Irish Lions tour to Australia:
@MN5 said in 2025 British & Irish Lions tour to Australia:
@Catogrande said in 2025 British & Irish Lions tour to Australia:
@MiketheSnow said in 2025 British & Irish Lions tour to Australia:
Not far off my Test side
I’m happy with that team, especially given the unavailability of some guys but going forward I think the front row will change with maybe only Genge keeping his spot. I’d like to see a little more physicality in the back row and the 9 and 15 will be different.
a lot of hard running but not a huge amount of playmaking in that midfield.
Tuipulotu has deft hands and is excellent at creating space.
Good point. Most Scotsmen are
Sorry. I don't see the connection.
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@Catogrande said in 2025 British & Irish Lions tour to Australia:
@MiketheSnow said in 2025 British & Irish Lions tour to Australia:
Not far off my Test side
I’m happy with that team, especially given the unavailability of some guys but going forward I think the front row will change with maybe only Genge keeping his spot. I’d like to see a little more physicality in the back row and the 9 and 15 will be different.
2 Aussies, a South African and a New Zealander in the team.
An Aussie and a South African on the bench.
“British and Irish Lions”
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@antipodean said in 2025 British & Irish Lions tour to Australia:
Does Temu Nonu still have the legs for representative rugby? This must be his swan song surely?
Temu Nonu > Boutique store Jordie
