Major Lions reveal on eve of Aviva Stadium clash with Pumas with historic first
There will be not one, but two, British and Irish Lions firsts at the Aviva Stadium on Friday night.
The clash with Argentina for the 1888 Cup, the only game that Andy Farrell's squad are playing in Ireland or Britain before heading to Australia on Saturday morning, is the first time that the Lions will play on Irish soil.
But it has now also been revealed that, for the first time ever, the Lions will have names on the back of shirts for the matchday 23.
The first time that names of players was put on the back of jerseys was in 2022, when England did so for the Autumn Nations.
The game is expected to be a sell out in Ballsbridge with only a couple of hundred tickets still available in midweek.
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The Irish Sun
an hour ago
- The Irish Sun
Jack Grealish is latest England star caught in football's Neverland as spiralling wages syndrome claims first victims
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Italian champions To be fair, it doesn't take a genius to work out that Grealish is a decent player, just down on his luck and caught in a tricky situation with a boss who doesn't recognise his talents. Yet the problem is the approximate £270,000-per-week wages that he trousers as an accessory to the £100million he commanded when signing from Most read in Football 6 BEST ONLINE CASINOS - TOP SITES IN THE UK Back then the British record transfer fee looked to be the catalyst for one of the last great football mavericks to ascend new heights and become a superstar with the character to match. It's now all just fizzling out in a sad demise. Jack Grealish has gone from eye-catching showman and heartthrob to miserable bench warmer - and I know who's to blame Guardiola can claim how much he loves 'Jack' all he likes. But there is only one real love for top-level players — and that is to see their names on the team sheet each week. One minute off the bench in the last game of the season sums it up for the Brummie bad lad everyone adores. It's time to go. But with two years left on his contract, that's roughly £28m in his bin. We hear all that old guff about it's not about money, it's about football, but why should Grealish pay the price for the fact that Guardiola sold him a dream four years ago but couldn't make it come true? So now there is an impasse, and it's not the first time it's happened in the blue part of Manchester. City signed Wayne Bridge from Picking up around £60,000 a week back then was a decent whack for a player, though not in Grealish's league, even accounting for inflation. The move went t**s up and for the next four years full-back Bridge turned up for work, trained and did his bit but was sent on loan to He played barely 40 games for City overall but took his full pay cheque every month. It cost the club around £13m in pay — or just over £3m a game. Numbers associated with top footballers since then have gone fully cosmic. Winger Sterling was signed by Chelsea's new owners Todd Boehly and Behdad Eghbali in 2022. Ironically, from Manchester City. He wasn't going to turn down the £300,000 a week being thrust in his hands by the naive Americans. 6 Raheem Sterling struggled on loan at Arsenal from Chelsea Credit: Shutterstock Editorial Sterling is now a lost soul. He spent last season sitting on the bench on loan at Arsenal. He is back now and as part of the infamous 'bomb squad' of Z-listers under coach But those wages will now just get in the way. For another two years. Good luck finding a Premier League club willing to shell out £15m a year for a forward who scored one goal last season. Ditto for striker Rashford, who will soon report back to And for his Red Devils club-mate Sancho — a Champions League finalist in 2024 who Chelsea paid £5m to get off their hands after a year on loan with them. 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The 42
2 hours ago
- The 42
England's Freeman can be the 'untidy' wing that Farrell likes
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The 42
2 hours ago
- The 42
'Johnny is very different than what he was on the field'
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