Wigglesworth and Dalziel confirmed among Lions coaching staff
Scotland forwards coach John Dalziel and England assistant Richard Wigglesworth have been confirmed as part of the British and Irish Lions coaching staff to take on Australia this summer.Head coach Andy Farrell's staff draws most heavily from the Ireland set-up that he has left on secondment to lead the tourists.Simon Easterby, who served as Ireland's interim head coach for this year's Six Nations, is joined by attack guru Andrew Goodman and scrum specialist John Fogarty.
David Nucifora, who was named as the Lions' performance manager in January, worked with Ireland for a decade before taking on a role with Scotland in 2024.Aled Walters and Vinny Hammond, who work on strength and conditioning and analysis respectively for Ireland, have also already been confirmed as part of Farrell's set-up.The Lions will play Argentina in Dublin on 20 June, before their first game on Australian soil against Western Force on 28 June.The first Test against the Wallabies will take place on 19 July in Brisbane, with the series continuing in Melbourne and Sydney over the following two weeks.The Wallabies are ranked eighth in the world, below Ireland, England and Scotland.However, they claimed an impressive victory over England at Twickenham during their recent autumn tour of the northern hemisphere and their four regional sides made a strong start to their Super Rugby Pacific campaigns.Tickets for the series have sold fast with more than 500,000 people expected to watch the nine matches across six Australian cities. The second Test in Melbourne, staged at the MCG, is likely to be the largest ever crowd for a Lions Test with the venue capable of holding more than 100,000 spectators.
More to follow.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Daily Record
an hour ago
- Daily Record
Lawrence Shankland ready to make Hearts decision as striker jets home for transfer summit
The Scotland striker's contract is set to expire and the Jambos are chasing another striking target as he weighs up his options Lawrence Shankland has flown back from honeymoon and is now ready to decide where his future lies. The Scotland international took time out and switched off from football in Dubai in recent weeks but is now set to consider his options. He will meet with his representatives later this week to discuss his options. West Bromwich Albion are amongst a number of English clubs who have expressed an interest, along with European and Middle East interest. Hearts are also closing in on a £400 deal for Aalesund striker Claudio Braga. The Portuguese forwward joined the Norwegian side from Moss back in 2023. It is expected he will play the coming weeks in the Norwegian Second Division before he joins up with McInnes at Tynecastle. Hearts have also signed Elton Kabangu, Alexandros Kyzirdis, Christian Borchgrevink and Oisin McEntee. Barrie McKay and Jorge Grant have both left the club at the end of their contracts while Gerald Taylor has returned to Deportivo Saprissa following his loan spell. The capital side have also pitched to land Australian winger Daniel Arzani but it is looking increasingly likely they will miss out to European rivals. You can get all the news you need on our dedicated Rangers and Celtic pages, and sign up to our newsletters to make sure you never miss a beat throughout the season. We're also on WhatsApp where we bring all the latest breaking news and transfer gossip directly to you phone. Join our Rangers community here and our Celtic community here.
Daily Mirror
2 hours ago
- Daily Mirror
Lewis Hamilton faces 'critical' test at Canadian GP as Ferrari 'concerns grow'
Ferrari star Lewis Hamilton is approaching a "critical" point in his season with his new team after a difficult Spanish Grand Prix, according to Karun Chandhok. The seven-time world champion has had a tough start to life with the Prancing Horse after failing to secure a podium after nine races and there could now be "concerns creeping in", the former Team Lotus driver said. Hamilton came sixth in Spain, while team-mate Charles Leclerc finished third, notching a trio of podium finishes and the Brit opted to blame himself for his underwhelming display and said he was at a loss over his tough day. He called it "the worst race I've experienced balance wise". "Well what do you want me to say?" He told Sky Sports after the race. "I've had a really bad day and have nothing to say. It was a difficult day. There's nothing else to add to it. It was terrible. There's no point explaining it. It's not your fault. I just don't know what to say." Hamilton will have a chance to turn things around at the Canadian Grand Prix this weekend but is under pressure to up his performance levels. Former F1 star Chandhok - who also drove for HRT - said Hamilton was struggling for rhythm and consistency and that there could be "concern creeping in" over the British racer after being "comfortably" outperformed by Leclerc. "It's starting to get a bit critical. We're coming into the second third of the season now, and he's not finding the rhythm. He's not finding consistency where week in, week out, he's in a happy place of the car. "In Imola, he was woeful in qualifying, then suddenly the car's brilliant in the race. In Monaco, he wasn't quite there. He was a chunk behind Charles throughout. There's got to be a degree of concern creeping in. When you look at Spain, the fact that Charles overtook him and drove away from him quite comfortably, even before we go into the different tyres and stuff later on. "If I was on the Lewis side of the garage, I would be concerned. We are nearly at halfway through the year now, we need to start understanding whether this a fundamental issue, that we need to change the direction of the set-up of the car. "I'm not disputing that he's still got the ability. He clearly does. He's able to win races, we saw that in China, but they need to find a sweet spot for him, where every weekend he knows what he's got, and they haven't got that. He's still having too many good days and bad days. The fluctuations are too much." There have been criticisms of Hamilton's car this season and team boss Fred Vasseur claimed there was an issue with the vehicle towards the end of the Spanish Grand Prix that impacted on his pace. Vasseur has since backed the Brit and said he only needs to make small tweaks to get himself challenging for podiums once again this season. "Hamilton is only missing the details," he said. "We are talking about hundredths, which in this balanced Formula 1 can make the difference between a first and a third row - between a good weekend and a less good one. "But they remain details - understanding the car, setup, communication. It's normal when you change teams. Frustration? It's understandable."
North Wales Chronicle
2 hours ago
- North Wales Chronicle
Carlos Alcaraz v Jannik Sinner: How the standout stars of men's tennis match up
The pair have shared the last six men's singles grand slam titles equally and here, the PA news agency looks at how they compare. Since the start of last season, only two different names have been engraved on men's singles grand slam trophies. Alcaraz and Sinner also both went into Sunday's meeting unbeaten in grand slam finals. Sinner won last season's two hard court slams at the Australian and US Opens, with Alcaraz victorious on the Paris clay and the Wimbledon lawns – and the pattern has so far repeated in 2025, with Sinner winning in Melbourne before Alcaraz's success on Sunday. Alcaraz now has five slams overall to his rival's three, having also won the 2022 US Open followed by Wimbledon in 2023. He won his fifth major aged 22 years, one month and three days, exactly the same as his idol Rafael Nadal. Still taking in that incredible men's final at Roland Garros. So happy for @carlosalcaraz – five Grand Slams at just 22! My heart goes out to Jannik Sinner, who showed real class in defeat. What a match, thank you both. Tennis is in great hands.🚀 — Rod Laver (@rodlaver) June 8, 2025 The elder Spaniard's fifth win came at Wimbledon in 2008 and the nature of the calendar means Alcaraz is narrowly the third youngest player to win five slams, aged 22 years and 34 days – one day older than Nadal. Bjorn Borg was just five days past his 22nd birthday when he won his fifth at the 1978 French Open. Alcaraz needs just the Australian Open to complete a career slam. Should he achieve that feat in 2026 or 2027 he will displace Nadal as the youngest man to do so. Sinner is halfway to a career slam of his own and unlike Alcaraz he has also won the ATP Finals, at the end of last season. 'For the sport it's something amazing to have these players, this kind of rivalry they have,' said Alcaraz's coach, former world number one Juan Carlos Ferrero, after Sunday's final. 'Having these two guys fighting for big trophies, I think we have to be very happy about it in the sport of tennis. They know they have to play unbelievable tennis to beat the other guy.' Ferrero seemingly has his protege ready for the fight. Alcaraz, who said 'real champions are made in those situations', has the better of the head-to-head record to date, winning eight matches to four, including all five meetings since the start of 2024. He has come from behind in four of those five, the only exception being this year's Rome Masters final. Sinner led by a set in their 2024 Indian Wells semi-final, the final of the ATP 500 event in Beijing and on two occasions in last year's Roland Garros semi-final, and was two sets up before Alcaraz won Sunday's classic 4-6 6-7 (4) 6-4 7-6 (3) 7-6 (2). Alcaraz leads 3-1 in tournament finals between the pair, Sinner's one success coming in an ATP 250 event in Umag, Croatia in 2022. Alcaraz's win in Paris broke the tie in career titles – giving him a 20th to Sinner's 19 – and boosted his lead over the Italian in career prize money. Alcaraz has won 44,732,623 US dollars (£33m at current exchange rates) to Sinner's USD41,518,168 (£30.6m).
