Nine Irish players poised to start for Lions vs Western Force
With Lions captain Maro Itoje likely to be removed from Farrell's XV after starting against Argentina, Scotland centre Sione Tuipulotu would be a strong leadership candidate alongside Ireland No 8 Jack Conan.
In spite of their defeat by Argentina, the Lions are still determined to play a fast, expressive brand of rugby in contrast to the negative tactics that dominated the 2021 series against South Africa.
'We want to play good rugby,' Goodman said. 'The group that we've got here want to play good rugby – they want to come over to Australia and play a nice, attractive brand of rugby. It will help grow the game if there are two teams attacking.
'Ultimately, when it comes to a Test match it's about winning, but we are going to develop our game so we can play at speed and give something to the fans who, as we've talked about, have paid a lot of money to come over here and watch us. We want to give them something to be proud of but that is the way we want to play as a team, to excite the group.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
BBC News
38 minutes ago
- BBC News
Dodds & Mouat set sights on Winter Olympic gold
Jennifer Dodds is aiming for back-to-back Winter Olympic gold medals, with the curling teams the first officially confirmed Team GB athletes for Milan-Cortina with a silver medal on their debut, Bruce Mouat and his rink are aiming to go one better in Italy next along with Grant Hardie, Bobby Lammie and Hammy McMillan Jr, were narrowly beaten by Sweden in the 2022 teamed up with Eve Muirhead, Vicky Wright and Hailey Duff in Beijing as Britain topped the podium for the first time in 20 time, she will be joined by Rebecca Morrison, Sophie Sinclair and skip Sophie Jackson."Winning gold last time was a dream come true, so I'm excited to get back there, obviously with a new team," Dodds told BBC Scotland."We've been building a lot over the last couple of seasons and I'm excited to see where the trajectory of our performance can go over the next eight months."I've known a couple of the girls for quite a while, but that's the thing, we probably had to build that teamwork, build the friendships and I feel like we've done that really well. I think you can see in our performances, our teamwork has improved, and a big part of that is communication and understanding each other.''Mouat's Scotland rink won World Championship gold for a second time this year, having been European champions on four the Edinburgh curler wants to add Olympic gold to their list of achievements."We were close last time," he said. "It came down to a matter of centimetres in the final. It was tough at the time but we've really bounced back and got our two world championships and now we've got 10 Grand Slam titles, so we have a lot of momentum." Childhood friends link up once more Mouat and Dodds will team up again to compete in the mixed doubles, having lost out in the 2022 bronze medal match."We're friends first and foremost, but we are team-mates as well," explained Dodds. "He can be intense on the ice but he's one of the funniest people I know off the ice. He always puts a smile on my face."We had the World Championships in April, and we got silver there, and I felt like that was kind of where we were, back to where we were from a couple of years ago. What we're wanting to go and strive for, is that gold medal at the Olympics.''Mouat added: "Jen and I are great friends and we have been since we were about eight or nine. It's just so much fun to get to go back to one of the pinnacles of our sport and play with someone that you've played with for such a long time. "In Beijing we were very close to winning a medal. We were up in our semi-final and then we ended up just throwing it away unfortunately, but we learned a lot from that experience."The 25th edition of the Winter Games will take place between 6-22 February 2026, across 16 disciplines.
BBC News
an hour ago
- BBC News
Head and Webster dig in to slow West Indies charge
First Test, Bridgetown (day two of five)Australia: 180 (Head 59, Khawaja 47; Seales 5-60) and 92-4 (Webster 19*; S Joseph 1-15)West Indies: 190 (Hope 48, Chase 44; Starc 3-65)Australia lead by 82 runsScorecard Australia ground out an 82-run lead with six wickets remaining in their second innings after another dramatic day in the first Test against West Indies in tourists trailed by 10 runs after West Indies made 190 in their first then looked to be trouble for Australia as they lost early wickets batting second time around, before the fifth-wicket pair of Travis Head and Beau Webster steered the team to stumps at the end of day faced 37 balls for his 13 not out, while Webster scored more briskly, reaching 19 in just 24 deliveries, as they crucially stayed together for eight testing 14 wickets fell on day one, hosts West Indies resumed their first innings on 57-4 at the start of Thursday's play and soon lost Brandon King, bowled by Josh Hazlewood for Shai Hope joined captain Roston Chase in the middle and the pair put on 67 before the latter was controversially given out lbw to Pat Cummins for 44 despite appearing to possibly edge the ball on to his Indies lost wickets at regular intervals before being bowled out, with a late Alzarri Joseph flurry handing them a 10-run lead. Hope top-scored with will begin day three on 92-4, looking for Head and Webster to propel them towards a healthy lead. Mitchell Starc, who was arguably the pick of the Australia bowlers in taking 3-65 in West Indies' first innings, predicted the match would continue to follow a familiar said of West Indies' effort with the bat: "They had a partnership in the middle and played pretty well, but the bowlers have been in the game and no doubt it will be the same tomorrow."There were a couple that stayed low and a couple that popped up. It will be interesting to see how it changes on Friday."Asked about the controversial dismissal of Chase, Starc added: "We can only ask the questions and then it goes to the officials. One of those went against us and a couple went against the West Indies."It is only the end of day two so there is still a lot of time. We will try and get as many runs as we can and hopefully it is a total we can defend as bowlers."
Reuters
2 hours ago
- Reuters
Australia edge ahead on day of close calls in Barbados
June 26 (Reuters) - Australia carved out an 82-run lead over West Indies on day two of the first test in Barbados on Thursday, with the hosts frustrated by several close umpiring calls that went against them. Australia, who were 92 for four at stumps in their second innings, continued their top-order struggles for a second consecutive day on a zippy Kensington Oval pitch that offered plenty for the pacers. West Indies resumed on 57 for four, trailing the tourists by 123 runs after bowling Australia out for 180 in their first innings. Two contentious umpiring calls helped Australia's bowling attack claw back control of the contest, dismissing the hosts for 190. What began as West Indies' day threatened to unravel after lunch, when captain Roston Chase was given out lbw to Pat Cummins for 44, despite his protestations that he had inside-edged the ball onto his pads. The Ultraedge technology offered no definitive evidence either way, sending an exasperated Chase back to the pavilion after his watchful 108-ball innings. The morning session belonged decisively to the home side as Chase and white-ball skipper Shai Hope, returning to test cricket after a four-year absence, navigated the Australian attack with increasing assurance in their 67-run sixth-wicket partnership. Controversy struck again when Hope, cruising towards a half-century on 48, edged Beau Webster into Alex Carey's diving gloves. Replays suggested the ball may have grazed the turf as the wicketkeeper completed a spectacular one-handed catch, but third umpire Adrian Holdstock ruled in Australia's favour. "We can only ask the questions, and then it goes to the officials," Aussie pacer Mitchell Starc said. "One went against us, a couple against them. That's what we have technology for." The twin dismissals proved to be the turning point, halting West Indies' momentum when a substantial lead seemed within grasp. At lunch, they had looked comfortable at 135 for five, with both batsmen displaying the patience and technique to potentially build a match-defining advantage. Instead, the Australian attack, led by Webster's probing line and Cummins' persistence, systematically dismantled the West Indies lower order to restrict the first-innings deficit to just 10 runs. The marginal decisions added another layer of intrigue to an already absorbing test match. "There was a partnership there between Roston and Shai," Starc added. "They showed if you could absorb pressure, there were runs to be scored. That is a bit of a blueprint. There are runs out there, but it is not going to be easy." Australia's second innings quickly mirrored their first-day struggles as Alzarri Joseph trapped Usman Khawaja lbw for 15, before teenage debutant Sam Konstas chopped Shamar Joseph onto his stumps for five. Josh Inglis departed shouldering arms to Seales, while Cameron Green edged to slip off Greaves for 15, leaving Travis Head and Beau Webster to navigate through to stumps on a pitch where runs remain precious currency. "It's an indifferent wicket," Starc said. "If you bowl the right areas for long enough, there are enough chances. There are a few bare patches, a few grassy patches, so it depends on where the ball is pitching."
