Andy Farrell not ruling out leading the Lions for New Zealand tour
A first series triumph since 2013 puts Farrell in pole position to take charge of the next expedition to New Zealand and the Ireland boss admits his passion for the Lions has only grown over the last two months.
Series winners, 2025 🏆🦁#Lions2025 pic.twitter.com/yPy78rS6gv
— British & Irish Lions (@lionsofficial) August 2, 2025
'Everyone knows what I think about this concept and I suppose that says it all,' he said.
'I love everything that the Lions is about and I've thoroughly, thoroughly enjoyed the last eight weeks.
'There are always ups and there are always downs, but the inner circle is a special place to be.
'Read into that what you want but I suppose four years, there's a long time between drinks isn't there?'
An extraordinary third Test that produced three failed HIAs and saw James Ryan knocked out was paused for 37 minutes early in the second-half after the players left the field because of lightening strikes in the area.
Australia then used up the full 10 minutes available to warm-up for the resumption of play, while the Lions only took five minutes. TV footage from the Lions' changing room during the break showed Finn Russell and Tom Curry using their phones.
'We agreed on 10 minutes for the warm-up and through the advice from our experts in that field we only made the call to come out five minutes before so that we would be ready to go,' Farrell said.
'I hope I'm not in a game like that again, actually. Rigor mortis was setting in at one stage there for the lads! I suppose that is what you come to expect with a schedule like the Lions schedule. We have seen it all now haven't we!
'We were trying to work out what the rules were and what was going to happen. At one stage it looked like it was going be 45 minutes then it was pulled back to 30 minutes.
A huge thank you to:
Australia 🇦🇺Our Support Staff 👨⚕️The Sea of Red 🌊🔴The Players 🏉
…and everyone who helped make the #Lions2025 Tour a truly unforgettable experience 🙏 pic.twitter.com/1jZEjF6Rrg
— British & Irish Lions (@lionsofficial) August 2, 2025
'There were updates constantly coming in but the lads stayed relaxed enough, had five minutes of a warm-up and got the show back on the road.
'What came off the back of that is Australia hit the ground running and thoroughly deserved their win.'
Australia boss Joe Schmidt revealed his side had prepared for the incoming bad weather.
'We had been warned that there might be a bit of lightning, so we had a plan and with that plan we made sure that guys kept moving,' Schmidt said.
'We'd four balls in the changing room so guys could throw them around, so that guys could stay connected.
'We had a couple of bikes and different guys were rotating on and off the bikes. The rest of the time, it was just trying to get us organised for the restart.'
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Wales Online
an hour ago
- Wales Online
Welsh players who could be on the 2029 Lions tour including rising star who has real X-factor
Welsh players who could be on the 2029 Lions tour including rising star who has real X-factor There were only two Welsh players on the 2025 Lions tour Louis Rees-Zammit won't be short of suitors after his return to rugby (Image: Chris Fairweather/Huw Evans Agency) In the aftermath of the British & Irish Lions' defeat in the third Test against Australia last weekend, chairman Ieuan Evans was asked about the lack of Welsh representation on tour. "That needs to drive players to say 'OK, I want a piece of the action. I want to be playing in four years' time in New Zealand," said the former Wales and Lions wing. That Jac Morgan and Tomos Williams were the only two Welshmen on this summer's tour should be a cause of embarrassment for the Welsh Rugby Union. The next Lions tour to New Zealand is four years away and a significant amount can change in such a period of time. But, as it stands, who would be the leading contenders from Wales and are there any players who have not yet broken through that are capable of reaching the heights? Jac Morgan Let's get the obvious one out of the way to begin with. The Wales star was superb in Australia, with his controversial clearout on Wallabies openside Carlo Tizzano at the death in Melbourne playing a pivotal role in the Lions snatching victory in the second Test. Sign up to Inside Welsh rugby on Substack to get exclusive news stories and insight from behind the scenes in Welsh rugby. Article continues below Morgan will be 29 by the time the Lions get set to face the All Blacks so, injury permitting, he should be on that plane in four years' time. Louis Rees-Zammit The 24-year-old is heading back to rugby union after an 18-month spell in the NFL and you can bet your bottom dollar on the Welsh speedster making an instant impact in the game in which he made his name. Rees-Zammit should be applauded for trying his hand at American football but one significant consequence was the fact he missed out on this summer's Lions tour having been involved in 2021. Tommy Freeman, James Lowe and Blair Kinghorn are all fine players but none of them possess the electric speed and finishing ability of Rees-Zammit. As of yet, the Welshman has not announced what club he will be signing for but according to reports he is keen to sign up to rugby's new rebel competition R360. But Rees-Zammit will undoubtedly break back into the Wales side and should be a strong contender to tour in 2029. Dewi Lake The 26-year-old hooker was perhaps a bit unlucky not to get called up to the recent tour after England's Luke Cowan-Dickie suffered an injury. Lake was spoken of as a serious contender in the two years leading up to the tour, but an injury during the Six Nations, along with Matt Sherratt opting to select Elliot Dee to start, probably put paid to his hopes. But the Ospreys star is more than capable of making an impact at that level with his powerful carrying game, set-piece prowess along with his dynamism standing out. Lake will be 30 in 2029 and the Lions will no doubt be a goal of his over the next four years. Morgan Morse Morse is still only 20 and hasn't even established himself as first choice for the Ospreys yet - but this guy is a serious talent. Join WalesOnline Rugby's WhatsApp Channel here to get the breaking news sent straight to your phone for free Ask anyone working in Welsh rugby's pathways or within the professional game who the biggest prospect in Wales is and it would be a big surprise if they did not go for Morse. The rising Ospreys star can play across the entire backrow and is pure X-factor. Morse has a lovely blend of athleticism and raw physicality while he is also an explosive carrier who is equally as comfortable in the tight as the wide channels. It is a matter of when not if he makes his mark with Wales and Morse certainly has the potential to become a future Lion. Dafydd Jenkins The 22-year-old has had a rough time of it for Wales over the past couple of years but despite the losing run he has been one of the better players. Jenkins is highly regarded within rugby circles and certainly has the potential to become a Lion in the future. The Exeter Chiefs lock is a physical specimen who gets through a huge amount of the unseen dirty work which provides the platform for others to claim the glory. Article continues below He is also a natural leader of men having captained Wales throughout a Six Nations campaign at the age of 20. Get the latest breaking Welsh rugby news stories sent straight to your inbox with our FREE daily newsletter. Sign up here. In four years time the likes of Maro Itoje, Joe McCarthy and James Ryan could still be around while the likes of Irish second-row Cormac Izuchukwu and England U20s lock Junior Kpoku, among others, could also be contenders by then. But Jenkins certainly has the ability to be in the mix depending on the state of Welsh rugby at the time.
The Guardian
3 hours ago
- The Guardian
Jayden Nguyen's Bombers debut could herald new era as AFL tackles cultural diversity
The first AFL men's player with a Vietnamese background, Essendon's Jayden Nguyen, held his own against Sydney star Tom Papley on Saturday. Despite the Bombers' 14-point defeat, Nguyen's appearance was an important milestone for a game still struggling to come to terms with its place within multicultural Australia. The 19-year-old, whose parents arrived in Australia in the 1980s, said he hoped he had made others proud. 'I'm pretty wrapped with the support I've got over the past few days from the Vietnamese community, and the Asian community in general,' Nguyen said after the match. 'I just feel like it helps push me and makes me feel proud about myself.' Quang Huynh, a Vietnamese-Australian working in Aussie rules, watched Nguyen's debut with interest. 'Jayden's great for the community, just seeing, hearing his story and his journey,' said Huynh, who works at the Western Bulldogs Community Foundation. 'Hopefully this opens up the opportunity for more Vietnamese boys and girls to play.' The AFL will shortly launch a cultural diversity action plan which, as well as highlighting the game's geographic regions of priority, has a broad goal to increase participation and engagement within non-traditional football communities. Despite the potential power of the AFL as an inclusive force, it remains to some a source of hate and division. The AFL issued an apology to Swans champion Adam Goodes in 2019 for failing to support him in a period he was targeted by repeated booing and the behaviour of abusive fans on social media remains a blight on the game. Last year a University of South Australia and University Technology Sydney survey found 50% of AFL match-goers had witnessed racist 'barracking' such as name-calling, compared to 36% of NRL fans and 27% of those at the A-Leagues. Supporters in all sports reported the situation had worsened in recent years. These experiences highlight the importance of the AFL's new action plan, due to be launched in coming weeks. In it, chief executive Andrew Dillon writes 'while significant progress has been made in making our game more inclusive, we recognise there is still work to do.' The plan is designed to take the game to new audiences, but Huynh's work at the Western Bulldogs Community Foundation sees the AFL from the opposite perspective. Their imperative is not to grow participation, it is to leverage the power of Australian rules to bring together people new to the country or those still on its periphery. As a multicultural community engagement coordinator, Huynh helps run a health program in languages including Vietnamese and Hindi, which has included attending matches with hundreds of AFL novices. 'We give our participants a beanie, a scarf, and we catch the train with them there,' Huynh said. Sign up to From the Pocket: AFL Weekly Jonathan Horn brings expert analysis on the week's biggest AFL stories after newsletter promotion 'We get off at Southern Cross station and we walk to gate seven at Marvel, and you can feel the excitement because you have people looking around and you see that everyone's cheering. For someone who's newly arrived or been here for a while, that sense of, 'We have something in common, we support the Bulldogs,' it's a really great thing.' The AFL's action plan promises to introduce new school and community programs in 21 targeted local government areas around the country, including five in western Sydney. The plan is light, only eight pages, but sets out the guiding principles for the code's efforts in this space, including co-design, intersectionality and an appreciation that for some communities progress 'will be a long journey'. This week staff responsible for the work met in western Sydney for an education and training workshop, and the first programs – including a multicultural one in Dandenong and another with the Chinese community in Perth – have already begun. 'By continuing to listen, learn, and evolve, we can build on the foundations already in place to create an environment where all cultures feel respected and represented,' Dillon said. The workshop coincides with a historic week for Asian-Australian followers of the game. In addition to the debut of Nguyen last Saturday, Hindi commentary was provided by Fox Footy for the Western Bulldogs v GWS Giants clash last Thursday. Mandarin will be heard on coverage of the Brisbane v Sydney match this Saturday. Barney Yu Xia, a payroll officer by day, will sit behind the mic alongside Agnes Yao Lu, having been involved in community broadcasting and in-language coverage of football. He moved to Australia from Hefei in China in 2012 to study media, but wasn't drawn to AFL until he met another Melburnian in a public toilet in Cairns in 2015. 'We were washing our hands, and he said, 'Where were you from?' I said 'I'm from Melbourne' and he was like 'Okay … Melbourne. Western Bulldogs? I was like, 'I have no idea',' he said. 'But I thought that people living in Melbourne should understand Australian rules. That's how I got into it, and then I started to like it.'
Daily Mail
4 hours ago
- Daily Mail
Footy boss lashes back at the NRL over an 'unfair' punishment which left one of his club's key members 'struggling'
Ivan Cleary has clapped back at the NRL after the league handed down a heavy punishment to the Penrith Panthers after one of the club's trainers was involved in a controversial incident in Round 22. Trainer Corey Bocking found himself under scrutiny after he appeared to run in front of Gold Coast Titans star Jayden Campbell as the fullback attempted to take a kick for goal. Campbell missed the set shot, with the Panthers rallying late in the match. Nathan Cleary kicked a two-point penalty in the 79th minute to send the game to a golden point tiebreaker Blaize Talagi crossed over the white wash in the 82nd minute to keep the Panthers' eight-match winning streak alive. But the talking point from the match was Bocking's decision to run back in front of Campbell while he was taking a kick. While the Panthers are adamant the incident was an accident, the league handed a proposed five-match ban to Bocking and slapped the club with a prospective $50,000 fine. The severity of the punishment takes into account the Panthers' rap sheet, which includes six other indiscretions involving trainers. Shane Elford was the most recent to cop a fine, with the trainer being slapped with a $10,000 penalty after squirting water on a ball during a clash against North Queensland. Cleary, though, claimed the penalty on Bocking was unfair. 'I think the punishment is pretty heavy,' the four-time premiership-winning coach explained. On Bocking, he added: 'I think his suspension is the biggest of anyone in the NRL this year. I think it's a bit harsh to come and say that his penalty is based on other things. 'He's struggling, has been right from the time it happened. 'We kind of try to temper that with banter, which he takes in good nature. 'But yeah, he's struggling. He cares about his job and understands that he made a mistake and it's become a big deal. 'The last thing he would want is any excess attention, that's his nature. You can see clearly that he was embarrassed and apologised. 'I just think it's harsh and I think it's a little unfair.' Cleary also took responsibility for the trainer's decision to run across the pitch. 'It was clearly a mistake,' Cleary added. 'His job is to stay with the team after the goal has been kicked. 'The only reason why he ran that line is because I changed a sub. If anyone is to blame, it's me - that is the truth.' The Panthers have stated that Bocking was running to the bench to alert the Penrith dugout of a substitution when the incident took place. Penrith will have five days to respond to the breach notice. Speaking on the heavy sanctions, NRL CEO Andrew Abdo explained that it was important for the NRL to take into account other actions of Panthers coaches in recent times in their sanctions. '(Penrith) have an opportunity to respond to the breach notice but it's important to note there have been six separate incidents involving Penrith Panthers trainers since 2021,' Abdo said at the launch of the NRL's Indigenous Round. 'So whilst we treat every incident on its own merits, taking into account the fact there have been several indiscretions by trainers from that club, it was important for us to take the action that we've taken.' Lifeline 13 11 14
