- Lions begin their 2025 campaign with a home clash against Argentina on Friday
- It will be the first chance Andy Farrell will see his players in competitive action
- Farrell’s Lions squad will fly to Australia this weekend ahead of their key tour
From Quinta do Lago to the Aviva Stadium, the sun has followed the British & Irish Lions around since Andy Farrell’s squad first met up in Richmond on May 18.
‘We’ve come back from Portugal and kept the tan going,’ head coach Farrell said with a smile on Thursday. ‘It’s been great. Dublin is going to be the place to be this weekend.’
Farrell has cut a relaxed figure on his team’s pre-tour preparations so far, the balmy temperatures perhaps playing a part. But don’t let that fool you.
The Lions have been hard at work and on Friday night, they mean business when they open their campaign against Argentina.
Captain Maro Itoje has left his team-mates in no uncertain terms about the demands required to represent the iconic side.
‘The jersey has weight to it, a significance and meaning to it, and as players it is our responsibility to push it forward and to live up to the badge,’ Itoje said.
That is the challenge the Lions face. The message being driven by Farrell and Itoje has been clear – despite limited preparation time, there can be no excuses. The Lions must deliver.
Itoje this week referred to the Lions as an ‘exclusive and elite club’. Of his 2017 debut in New Zealand, he said: ‘It was amazing, like a dream fulfilled. It was just a tremendous feeling and also a tremendous opportunity and responsibility.’
Itoje, about to embark on his third tour, is aware of what’s required. But there are set to be 14 Lions debutants on Friday night who are stepping into the unknown against an Argentina side full of Gallagher Premiership experience. After months of deliberation and anticipation, the 2025 tour finally starts here.
The excitement is palpable and genuine. At a time when rugby continues to battle all sorts of issues, the magic and importance of the Lions remains absolute.
Dublin is packed full of Lions supporters, not only from Ireland. English, Welsh and Scottish fans have also travelled in numbers and the Aviva is sold out.
There is genuine intrigue about what the Lions can deliver. The three-quarter line is packed full of pace, power and game-breaking ability. Centre pairing Bundee Aki and Sione Tuipulotu and wings Tommy Freeman and Duhan van der Merwe provide a hulkingly physical threat.
It is one of the biggest back-lines in Lions history, supplemented by a dual playmaking axis of Fin and Marcus Smith at fly-half and full-back respectively.
The Smiths are two of nine Englishmen starting in Dublin.
Assistant coach Richard Wigglesworth said: ‘We’ve got power, pace and no little skill. I’m excited to see the centre partnership as they can play through and around teams.
‘We want to play to space and play fast. The back-line and players we have can do everything. We want them to be an all court back-line.
‘We don’t want to put too many limits on the group. It is pretty exciting with how far it can go.’
Asked what Lions fans can expect against the Pumas, England wing Freeman said: ‘Hopefully, a lot of tries. We want to be instinctive. With the guys we’ve got in the back-line, there are threats. If the ball players can put us in space, it’s going to be a lot of fun and dangerous.’ Argentina is the Lions’ only match chance before the hotly-anticipated tour of Australia.
The Wallabies on Thursday named their first tour squad of the summer, leaving out No 10 James O’Connor. Their head coach Joe Schmidt described Aki and Tuipulotu as a ‘southern hemisphere centre partnership’ – referring to the fact the pair weren’t born in Britain or Ireland. It might have been a slip of the tongue, but the comment was needless.
Regardless of their heritage, each and every Lions player has a point to prove Down Under and is determined to do so. Schmidt may have ended up only fuelling that fire.
Dublin is the first real touch point of the tour. On the eve of the game, scrum-half Jamison Gibson-Park trained separately to the main group as he continues his recovery from a minor glute injury. Farrell hopes to have all 38 of his players fit for the first game in Australia with the Western Force a week on Saturday. The Lions fly south over the weekend.
Leinster forwards James Ryan and Dan Sheehan were the only ones not involved in the team’s pre-Argentina captain’s run session on Thursday.
Farrell has warned the battle for Test spots to face the Wallabies begins in Ireland. So, while this is in essence a warm-up fixture, in reality it will be far from that.
The Lions should win. But that is no guarantee. Dublin starts the clock on what is set to be a mouthwatering few weeks for any rugby fan. Bring it on.
