LIVE: First Nations & Pasifika XV v British & Irish Lions, Australia tour 2025
The First Nations & Pasifika side, meanwhile, is a fairly hastily-arranged team composed of First Nations peoples, i.e. those who hail from the Samoan, Fijian, Tongan, Māori, and Cook Island cultures which contribute to the rugby union community across Australia.
They were chosen as the Lions' final warm-up opponents due to the collapse last year of Super Rugby's Melbourne Rebels, who had been due to fill this slot in their home city.
Today will be the invitational side's first ever game.
The First Nations' head coach is Tongan-Australian great Toutai Kefu, who won a World Cup in 1999 and starred in the Wallabies' first ever series win over the Lions in 2001.
Kefu's assistant coach is All Blacks legend Tana Umaga, whom you might recall played a key role in the Lions' 2005 tour of New Zealand…
Toutai Kefu in action against Ireland in 2002. INPHO INPHO
Tana Umaga (R) renewing acquaintances with Brian O'Driscoll for an advertising campaign in 2018. Dan Sheridan / INPHO Dan Sheridan / INPHO / INPHO
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The Irish Sun
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Topless hakas and wild celebrations – how rugby legend is bringing winning culture to Chelsea's billion pound youngsters
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And Isa, who had been at the club since 2016, was the 'cultural architect' who set the standards on and off the field that underpinned the triumph. Advertisement READ MORE SPORT STORIES Peet told SunSport: 'It can sound vague I think, like wishy-washy words, when you talk about culture and standards. 'But it comes back to what are you willing to accept and what are you not willing to accept. 'And who's going to set where the line is and acknowledge when things fall below standard. 'Willie was someone who would be driving the cultural side of the environment, standards, behaviours, attitude, just 24/7. Those people are so important. Advertisement Most read in Football CASINO SPECIAL - BEST CASINO BONUSES FROM £10 DEPOSITS 'We all knew he'd be an addition to any environment. So it's just fair play to Just weeks after Isa became a world champion with Wigan in February last year, he suffered an horrific injury. 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The 42
an hour ago
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The Lions can't win in some people's eyes but they're still a beast
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The 42
2 hours ago
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'It's challenging but it's adding to the entertainment' - Goalkeeper view on new rules
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Obviously, the 'keeper has to execute the kick, has to make the right decision on where the ball is going, but it's proving a challenge. And I think every team in the country has struggled in different parts of the year with their kick out. 'I suppose if I'm putting my goalkeeper hat on, you're relinquishing control a bit more than you'd like, but putting my GAA hat on, as a supporter, it adds great excitement to the game and it adds a chaotic nature to the game, which as we can see, the fans are loving. They're turning out in their droves to watch those games. So it's definitely challenging but I suppose it's adding to the entertainment to the game as well.' Elaborating on the differences amidst faster restarts and limited back passes, Ryan continues: 'I think for all the teams in the country, and particularly all the goalkeepers in the country, we probably have to reframe our mentality around how we analyse ourselves. 'A (kick out) percentage last year, like 65/70%. You probably would have been happy with that last year. This year you would bite a fella's hand off for it. So it's taken a while, and it's still a work in progress among people analysing GAA, coaches, players to kind of reframe how we're thinking about the kick out aspect of it. 'It's certainly something that's challenging, but it's enjoyable. It's enjoyable trying to break down teams, and it's enjoyable for the supporters as well, which we can see throughout the year.' Ryan, who plays outfield for his club Rathmore, makes some other interesting points about goalkeeping in general, and the mental side of the game. 'I think sometimes 'keepers get too much credit on kick out stats and get too much probably criticism on the other side of things when they don't go well,' he says. Ryan celebrates Kerry's All-Ireland quarter-final win over Armagh. James Crombie / INPHO James Crombie / INPHO / INPHO 'I suppose the nature of the position, you are going to make mistakes. And the longer I've played at the top level, I've kind of tried to accept that they're just gonna happen. Obviously, you don't want them to happen, particularly in an All-Ireland stage, but they're going to. 'It's always a measure of a fella, how he reacts from mistakes rather than the mistakes themselves, and that's kinda how I try to perceive them. Because if you go out there fearing a mistake, you're never gonna express yourself. You're never gonna perform to your maximum. 'And that goes for all positions in the field, but I suppose when you're playing in goal, you drop a high ball. 90% of the time it's in the back of the net or it's over the bar. If I'm playing full forward for my club and I drop a ball, no one gives it a second thought. So it's trying to compartmentalise those individual errors and just trying to react positively to them.' Ryan has never specialised in goal for Rathmore, with whom he won Kerry, Munster and All-Ireland intermediate championships in 2022. His journey between the posts started with Killarney Celtic, where he played soccer until the age of 13 before Gaelic football took over. The 29-year-old was a goalkeeper for Kerry underage squads, and was drafted into the senior panel in 2019. Three years later, he was the All-Star shot-stopper, and an All-Ireland winner. Related Reads Two-time Kerry All-Ireland winner Tommy Walsh retires from Gaelic Football 'We all have our roles' - Donegal's long-serving point-scoring machines remain pivotal Jack and David have decided that this state of affairs will not do. At all. Now targetting a second Celtic Cross on Sunday, Ryan credits his soccer roots through his rise. 'I got a lot of the basics in terms of footwork, being vocal, being a presence in the box. Soccer would be far ahead of GAA there in terms of goalkeeper coaching from the youth stage. Now GAA is getting better. Definitely getting better. 'But I learned a lot of basics there that probably became second nature to me to maybe (instead of) goalkeepers who just played GAA and didn't get that coaching. It might have took them a bit longer to develop. And they are something that I still rely on, those basics.' *****
