
Lions vs First Nations & Pasifika XV live: Latest score and updates from midweek tour clash as second Test looms
Andy Farrell 's squad have relocated to Melbourne with the second clash with the Wallabies at the MCG this weekend looming large, and it is a much-changed Lions side that gets an opportunity to impress. Farrell risks few of those likely to be involved in the attempt to seal the series against Australia on Saturday, with a number of those called up to provide cover in the last couple of weeks given their first outings in the famous red shirt.
The First Nations & Pasifika side is formed from some of the top performers in Super Rugby Pacific, and celebrates the heritage of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island communities as well as the Pacific Island diaspora in Australia. Can they catch the Lions off guard between Tests?
Lions vs First Nations & Pasifika
Lions take on a First Nations & Pasifika XV in Melbourne | Live on Sky Sports with kick off at 11am BST
Owen Farrell leads the Lions for the first time with others hoping to press for Test places
Tourists are 1-0 up in the Test series against Australia with Saturday's clash at the MCG looming
Owen Farrell to captain Lions against First Nations & Pasifika XV
Owen Farrell will captain the British and Irish Lions in their midweek clash with a First Nations & Pasifika XV in Melbourne.
Farrell, called up earlier in the tour to replace Elliot Daly, leads a much-changed Lions side for the Tuesday night encounter at Marvel Stadium, with head coach Andy Farrell electing not to risk most of those involved in the first Test.
Blair Kinghorn gets an opportunity to stake a claim for the full-back shirt after overcoming a knee injury, while Garry Ringrose is back involved on the bench after a concussion.
Ben Earl, Alex Mitchell and Marcus Smith retain bench spots from the win over the Wallabies in Brisbane on Saturday, while Scottish lock Gregor Brown is named in the 23 just two days after being summoned to join the squad.
Owen Farrell to captain Lions against First Nations & Pasifika XV
Farrell is selected at inside centre for the Tuesday night clash in Melbourne
Harry Latham-Coyle22 July 2025 08:00
Lions vs First Nations & Pasifika XV
The first Test has been won, the second is looming large but tonight the British and Irish Lions must flip their focus to a midweek meeting with a dangerous First Nations & Pasifika side. The last non-Test outing of the tour sees Andy Farrell install son Owen as skipper and risk few of those involved at Suncorp Stadium last Saturday - but could one or two of those on show stake a claim for second Test involvement?
Kick off is at 11am BST.
Harry Latham-Coyle21 July 2025 23:55
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Glasgow Times
8 hours ago
- Glasgow Times
‘Selfless' Garry Ringrose praised after concussion withdrawal
Ringrose pulled out of a Lions team that shows three changes from the opening 27-19 victory over Australia, with Andrew Porter, Ollie Chessum and Bundee Aki given starts. On the bench Owen Farrell is poised to make his first international appearance since helping England finish third at the 2023 World Cup and he is joined by Jac Morgan, the only Welshman in the touring party. The starting XV is made up of nine players from Ireland – seven of whom represent Leinster – four Englishmen and two from Scotland. The Ireland and Leinster contingent would have increased by one had Ringrose not told head coach Andy Farrell shortly before he was due to officially announce the team that his concussion symptoms had returned. An injury that initially surfaced after July 9's win over the ACT Brumbies forced him to sit out the first Test but having made a successful comeback against the First Nations and Pasifika XV on Tuesday, he was poised to replace Huw Jones at outside centre. Instead, he will be watching from the stands with Jones continuing in midfield for the Lions' shot at completing a series victory at Melbourne Cricket Ground. 'Garry was actually selected and unfortunately after training he's had to pull out,' Andy Farrell said. 'It's head-related again. It was literally as I was walking off the field. He came to me and once that's mentioned, that's that. 'With these type of things players are getting very good at telling the truth of how they feel, so it was a no-brainer to make the change straight away. 'It's very easy to keep it to yourself and lie and not be honest and open. It was very big of him and the right thing to do, 100 per cent. For the team as well, not just for Garry.' Ready for Saturday night at the G! 🦁#Lions2025 — British & Irish Lions (@lionsofficial) July 24, 2025 Lions captain Maro Itoje echoed the view of his head coach. 'I'm gutted for him that he's in this position but it also shows the measure of the man to be so selfless,' Itoje said. 'All we ask of all of us is to be selfless and put the team first. When push comes to shove, you see who really does it. Garry is a man who really did it.' Had Ringrose been fit, he would have formed an all-Ireland partnership with Aki at the expense of Sione Tuipulotu and Jones, the Scotland combination who impressed in the series opener at Suncorp Stadium. Maro Itoje (left) and Andy Farrell hailed Garry Ringrose's selflessness (David Davies/PA) Tuipulotu is struggling with a tight hamstring but the indications are that he would have been dropped even without the injury. Joe McCarthy has failed to recover from his foot problem so Chessum slots into the second row, while loosehead prop Porter is preferred ahead of Ellis Genge in the front row. James Lowe is lucky to retain his place on the left wing after a poor display in the first Test, but with Blair Kinghorn present on the bench after overcoming a knee problem Andy Farrell has a high-quality alternative ready.


Times
10 hours ago
- Times
Jac Morgan on Lions bench proves form does at least count for something
Thank the Lord for Jac Morgan's selection. Or thank Lord Farrell, at least. Morgan's selection can give you faith. Legions of British & Irish Lions fans will be relieved and delighted that Morgan has been promoted to the bench for the second Test against Australia in Melbourne on Saturday. And, yes, a majority of them may be Welsh, but what is crucial here is to remember the position held by Andy Farrell, the head coach: that he won't allow his selection process to be swayed by national interests or any desire to keep all four nations represented. Rightly so, of course. Yet Morgan's selection for the second Test is important for reasons far more weighty than any kind of PR. It is only a bench spot, but it is representative of far more. It proves that it has still been possible to play your way into the team. This is essential to how the Lions operate. Indeed, if they do not operate this way, then the Lions do not work — and that was, worryingly, how the class of 2025 had been looking. Every Lions coach will set out on tour with a likely or possible Test team in his head. Farrell did that and there were surely lots of Irishmen in there. But that's OK if the other players in the squad can change his thinking by the quality of their performances. In the Lions' rich history, there are long chapters on this very subject. Tom Smith and Paul Wallace, the two first-choice props in 1997: they are a chapter in themselves because they were no one's idea of a pair of Test props when the squad left for South Africa, but because of the way they played in the matches in the weeks before the Tests, their quality won them their starting spots. Here in Australia, though, one has wondered: does form still count? Is it actually possible to do a Smith, a Wallace? That was why the selections of Tom Curry and Tadhg Beirne a week ago were deemed controversial — because they hadn't notably excelled in the pre-Test games and Morgan had. Of all the back-row forwards in the squad, in those pre-Test games, Morgan was arguably the best of the lot. And yet he didn't even make the bench. It thus became clear how much Farrell had always wanted to start Curry. After Morgan's omission, the appropriate questions then were: what more could he have done? And: is there actually a way in? You do not have to extrapolate much further to then be asking: what was the point of Morgan coming? Not just Morgan, but all those others who boarded the plane more than a month ago and were not in the forefront of Farrell's selection plans. Why were they here if they didn't actually have a chance of breaking in? And once you get to that, you are questioning the very fabric of the touring Lions. But Morgan is in now. He has replaced Ben Earl on the bench. His form demanded it and the demands have been met. There is a spectrum here between being a very flexible selector and one whose opinion is hard to shift. Call it the selector's flexibility scale. For this Lions tour, Farrell's position on the flexibility scale is close to one end, the hard-to-shift end, though Morgan's selection at least shows that it is not at the complete extreme. There are circumstances that come in to play here. The opposition in the pre-Test matches has been subpar. This has lowered the value of a good performance; it has meant you could have a blinder and still not really turn Farrell's head. Morgan was man of the match against the Queensland Reds and that didn't seem to do him much good in the selection conversation for the first Test. You could say that Farrell's position on the selector's flexibility scale was then vindicated because he wasn't swayed by Morgan's form and instead picked Curry on account of the vast body of work in his international career to date and his record for showing up strong for big games — and Curry repaid his faith. Curry was magnificent. For the second Test, what is particularly fascinating about Farrell's team selection is his midfield. Due to injury, he has ended up with Bundee Aki and Huw Jones but he had wanted to go with his Irish duo of Aki and Garry Ringrose. He said that Sione Tuipulotu was suffering from a tight hamstring. Nevertheless, it would appear that, had everyone been fit, he would have gone with the Irish pair, despite the quality of the Scots in the first Test. Yes, even though Jones and Tuipulotu had proved their worth, Farrell would not have been persuaded by their form. That makes his position on the flexibility scale even more extreme. You may wonder, then, what it would take to unseat James Lowe from his Test position on the left wing. Lowe has very much not been in form here in Australia and it would appear he has been fortunate that the rivals to his position in the Test team have been unfit. But what of Blair Kinghorn, returning from injury in the game against a First Nations & Pasifika XV on Tuesday night? What if he'd had a good game? (he didn't). Would his form have forced his way in? That we will probably never know. All we can be sure of is that if you do happen to play outstandingly well over a period of time, then, as Morgan has proved, it is actually possible to change Farrell's mind after all. Second Test, MelbourneSaturday, 11amTV Sky Sports


BBC News
10 hours ago
- BBC News
Rate Sunderland's 2025-26 home kit
'He did things-no one could do' - how 2005 Ashes 'reinvented' Flintoff. Video'He did things-no one could do' - how 2005 Ashes 'reinvented' Flintoff