Latest news with #2025LionsTour
Sky News AU
03-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Sky News AU
Retired rugby great turned royal Mike Tindall set to visit Australia next month for Lions-Wallabies test at MCG
Mike Tindall has announced he will be travelling to Melbourne next month for the second Test of the 2025 Lions Tour to watch the Lions take on the Wallabies. The Lions tour begins later this month and will culminate with a three-match test series between the British & Irish Lions and the Australian national team. The historic rugby union tour will also feature matches against Australia's four Super Rugby franchises. - the Western Force, Queensland Reds, NSW Waratahs and ACT Brumbies. Mike, 46, is a retired rugby great and married Zara, Queen Elizabeth II's eldest granddaughter, in 2011 in a major royal wedding in Edinburgh. On Monday, Mike took to Instagram to inform his Aussie fans he will be appearing at the Lions showdown at the iconic MCG on July 26. Tindall, who hosts a rugby podcast titled 'The Good, The Bad & The Rugby' (GBR), will be joined in Australia by his co-hosts James Haskell and Alex Payne. The three also announced a competition via the podcast to win a trip to Australia and watch the game with Tindall. "WIN THE ULTIMATE LIONS EXPERIENCE! Together with Visit Victoria, we're giving away a TRIP TO MELBOURNE for the 2nd Test as the Lions take on the Wallabies – plus a VIP meet & greet with the GBR hosts,' Tindall announced via Instagram. The visit will mark the first time Tindall has been on Aussie shores since a trip to the Gold Coast in January alongside wife Zara for their annual appearance at the Magic Millions racing event. Zara holds no titles and is also not a working royal like her cousins, instead embarking on a career as a pro horse rider and winning a silver medal at the 2012 Olympics as an equestrian. The Tindalls are also free to take part in lucrative paid gigs and partnerships across the world. The down-to-earth Tindalls live on Aston Farm within Princess Anne's privately-owned Gatcombe Park estate and share daughters Mia Grace and Lena Elizabeth and son Lucas Philip.
Irish Daily Mirror
18-05-2025
- Sport
- Irish Daily Mirror
James Ryan's return reseals Leinster's AWOL Champions Cup defence
Those wondering about Northampton posting thirty-seven points on Leinster two weeks trying to gauge what steps the Blues are taking to curb such profligacy in the run to the close of the season, were given a straightforward answer in a tense 13-5 win over while Leinster's attack was having an off day, butterfingers, wayward passing and some off-kilter running lines, their defence was superb. I caused Peter O'Mahony's TV meltdown after Axel Foley's death James Ryan will never win one of the 20/30/40 metres dashes at training and he hasn't scored a try for Leinster since December 2022 but he is a defensive rock and his return to start for the first time post-Six Nations was very much central to Saturday's night hard hits are not just the point, there is his leadership and, make no mistake, it is his voice in the huddle that's fiercest and in command, it's his 'thou shalt not pass' that has the others in unfair maybe on such Andrew Porter/Jack Boyle, Dan Sheehan, Scott Penny, Jack Conan/Max Deegan and, yes, Jordie Barrett who made big contributions when their side was without the ball but Ryan was the standout among Cullen's mob rarely post thin totals and 13 was their lowest score at the Aviva this season, albeit beating the 10 posted a 10-7 win against Bulls in Pretoria in late 13, which was '10' until 90 seconds from full-time, needed robust protection and Ryan was its berserker."Yeah, exactly," said Cullen afterwards, no doubt pleased that Jacques Nienaber might turn up for work this week with a smile for the first time the European defeat.."There is the experience he has accumulated over the last, seven, eight years."If you think he played in that final in Bilbao 2018 against Racing as a young player as an example and the impact he had that season, that was a real, obviously, breakout season for him."There has been close to 100 games for Leinster, 72 Ireland caps and selection for the 2025 Lions Tour earlier this month."He's been through it all, all the bits, ups and downs, he brings physicality to the engine room and he's growing all the time."He has captained Leinster, he's captained Ireland, he brings a ton of experience down to the table because he can still be regarded as a young man he is what, 28 (29 in July)?"There was also time to praise Boyle who, arriving on the pitch 10 minutes into the second-half made an immediate impact at the scrum."Again, a young player accumulating experience all the time and we are very lucky."You think of Andrew Porter starting in there playing the first 50 minutes, you've Cian and Jack and Paddy McCarty is obviously there too, he played the A's earlier earlier on today."And Mikey Milne who we saw running around for the other team (laughs) last night, we are doing our bit for Irish rugby there..."But Jack, listen, he was great. That's what you want. You want him to be aggressive. He's a very talented young man and he's about making sure that he's bringing all his strengths to the party."I'd say he would be pretty close when it comes to the summer tour with Ireland I'd imagine."The best of the defending came in the first quarter, it was hand-to-hand combat as Leinster saw off two rolling mauls and three very dangerous, wide, back sweeps without Cullen: 'The first 20 minutes, we didn't really have a huge amount of ball. They created opportunities, they're a dangerous team as we know. They didn't really front up here realistically when they played us a few weeks ago.'You get a sense from them even in the warm-up, very focused, you could definitely see they were up for the physical challenge, but we weathered the storm pretty well I thought and eventually we got in for a try after the previous one obviously got chalked off."We had a good bit of pressure in that period. They made life difficult for us and we had some just chances that we didn't quite execute, misfired at a couple of lineouts as well."The attack wasn't quite as fluid, delivering one first-half try from a cross kick gathered in by Jimmy O'Brien, Sam Prendergast kicking a difficult left touchline conversion while he also added a 55th minute penalty. Ciaran Frawley added his penalty 90 seconds from full-time.'There was that one where Sam was nearly over in the corner," says Cullen of Leinster having made chances."There was a technical infringement - the ref applying a Law very rarely applied - for backs encroaching off a lineout drive as well, and then they obviously hit us with a try on the breakaway to get it back to 10-5.'It gets a bit jittery then, but it was good to see us come through that. You definitely learn more from those tight games because it's more realistic to play-off games.'So yeah, good to come through it. We kicked the penalty at the end, dealt with the restart and the end of the game – that's not bad practice for knockout games."That's the league-proper finished with, Leinster move on to a quarter-final with Scarlets at the Aviva, Saturday May 31st (3pm). The winners there face the winners of Glasgow-Stormers in the semi-final. 'Listen, overall it's a win. Finishing top of the log, it doesn't obviously mean anything bar you have home advantage. The reward for us is that hopefully we get a big crowd. That makes a real difference to us as a club.'I know there was a lot of frustration after our Champions Cup semi-final but the group is focused to try and masker that right. We get another opportunity to play a knockout game. Scarlets made the last eight despite losing their last match 12-3 at Sharks but the result they will feel got them there was a 35-22 home win over Leinster in late April. "It's about preparing right now," said Cullen of looking to right some wrongs surrounding that shock result."They are definitely similar to Northampton as well. They kick a lot. The half backs are good in terms of controlling the game so it's making sure we don't get frustrated by that, making sure we gain energy from them kicking the ball away. "It's not something we would get frustrated by. They are well coached. Dwyane Peel and Jared Payne, those two in particular, have a very good understanding of the provinces from their time here with Ulster."We thought we had learned some things that week because there were things that cropped up in the game that again, not sure that necessarily applied with a different group that we had the following week."Definitely we'll look back at some of those things where Scarlets exposed us at different stages. It will be a good challenge for us." Get the latest sports headlines straight to your inbox by signing up for free email.
Irish Daily Mirror
05-05-2025
- Sport
- Irish Daily Mirror
Caelan Doris emerges as a massive doubt for Lions tour
Caelan Doris is a major doubt for the 2025 Lions Tour following sustaining a shoulder injury in the European Champions Cup semi-final defeat to Northampton last Saturday. The Ireland captain played down his shoulder injury when talking in the immediate aftermath of the game. But fears as to the extent of the injury were heightened yesterday as it was revealed he had been sent for scans. Doris was considered slight favourite to be 2025 Lions captain, ahead of Maro Itoje, Sione Tuipulotu with Jamie George considered a long outsider. But will be in a significant race against time as Leinster have just two URC league-proper games left and with the further potential for three further knockout games. Said Jacques Nienaber at Leinster training today: "Since I have been at Leinster, I don't think Caelan has ever ever left the field with an injury, replaced and subbed yes. "He is a hard man generally, so that's not good. He saw a specialist and they are doing a procedure on it this week. "Fingers crossed they go in and there is not too much structural damage. My official knowledge is a little bit woozy but if there isn't structural damage, maybe four to six weeks. "If there is it could go up to anything as big as six months." Added Josh van der Flier of playing without Doris for the last quarter: "Caelan had a few big carries, that was a very impressive 50/22 just after his try. "It is obviously not ideal having Caelan coming off, he is probably the best player in Ireland at the moment. "The calmness he brings is brilliant but I have found in the past in situations like that, as a team we have always remained calm, even when we got into huddles, I felt we were calm. "We have been in loads of positions in games where I've had to play on the wing, throw in the ball, other players have had to adapt. "I don't think losing Caelan's (leadership) flustered us too much at the time." Get the latest sports headlines straight to your inbox by signing up for free email.
