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Irish Examiner
9 hours ago
- Sport
- Irish Examiner
Aki and Jones will hit it off exactly like any other type of partnership, insists Farrell
Andy Farrell selected a record nine Irishmen in his British & Irish Lions starting line-up for Saturday's second Test against Australia at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. No Lions Test side in the professional era has featured as many players from Ireland, though Farrell's predecessor Warren Gatland did select 10 Welshman for the final Test against the Wallabies on the 2013 tour, infamously jettisoning Brian O'Driscoll in the process. There was not as much blood on the carpet as the 2025 head coach unveiled the team he hopes can get the job done on Saturday and secure the series victory at the earliest possibility in this three-Test set and Irish representation might well have been at 11 had Joe McCarthy, Mack Hansen and Garry Ringrose not failed to pass fit. In a starting line-up showing three changes from last Saturday's 27-19 victory over Australia in Brisbane only the selection of Andrew Porter at loosehead prop over series-opening starter Ellis Genge was entirely unenforced. Joe McCarthy failed to overcome the plantar fasciitis in a foot that caused him to come off after 42 minutes in Brisbane, with the Irishman replaced in the second row by Ollie Chessum, who had come off the bench at Suncorp Stadium and now partners Maro Itoje from the start. Bundee Aki at inside centre could be considered unenforced in intent, yet Sione Tuipulotu would have missed the game in his hometown regardless due to a tight hamstring. Farrell's intention had been to replace his all-Scottish centre pairing of Tuipulotu and Huw Jones with an Irish one but having shown his hand to his squad on Wednesday night, his plan unravelled at the end of training on Thursday morning as Ringrose withdrew himself from a Lions Test debut after reporting a recurrence of concussion symptoms to his head coach. So a reprieve for first Test outside centre Jones in an Irish-Scottish combination alongside Aki. As one by now expects from Farrell, he was able to promote the upside, embracing the adversity that has made his Ireland tenure such a success. "It's a good place to be sometimes,' the Lions boss said of the enforced change. 'These things happen in the warm-up of any game, the pressure is off and people tend to play freely because of that type of situation. Huw won't miss a beat in that regard." Similarly, Aki, now reunited with his centre partner of 22 minutes at the tail end of last Saturday's win at Suncorp Stadium, and starting with Jones for only the second time having played the first 67 minutes together against the Queensland Reds. 'Sione has had a little bit of a tight hamstring going on there so we're nursing a little bit of that at the minute. I mean, Bundee's well able, isn't he? That type of combination is something we certainly would have trusted anyway," Farrell insisted. 'They'll be good. At this stage of the tour and well before this stage of the tour, actually, the combinations have been absolutely fine together. So Bundee and Huw will hit it off exactly like any other type of partnership.' Porter's promotion from the bench last weekend means an all-Irish front row with hooker Dan Sheehan and tighthead Tadhg Furlong while the back row is unchanged following standout performances from Tadhg Beirne, fellow flanker Tom Curry and No.8 Jack Conan in Brisbane. There will be joy in Wales with the selection of Jac Morgan as the back-row replacement, the Lions having last Saturday fielded a Test squad without a Welshman for the first time since 1896. Morgan replaces Ben Earl on the bench while James Ryan fills the vacuum as the lock replacement following the promotion of Chessum to the starting side. Farrell has been impressed by Morgan's reaction to his omission from the first Test 23. 'He hasn't missed a beat. No difference whatsoever. Now, I'm sure 100 per cent in himself, or what he talks to his family or whatever, but he was exactly the same last week, delighted for whoever was picked in his position, and was so good in helping the team prepare for that first Test. "And his peers are doing exactly the same back. He's just been himself, very polite and very diligent in his work.' The other changes to the bench are backs, with Owen Farrell replacing Marcus Smith and providing cover at 10 and 12, following an impressive 80-minute performance last Tuesday captaining the Lions to a narrow win over the First Nations & Pasifika XV. The former England captain's selection means the 32-year-old, son of the head coach, is in line to appear in his fourth Lions Test series having debuted in 2013 against the Australians. Scrum-half Alex Mitchell retains his place among the replacements but Aki's move into the number 12 jersey sees wing/full-back Blair Kinghorn named as the outside backs replacement. It was a far from straightforward selection process given the wait and see approaches on the fitness of McCarthy and Mack Hansen, who has not recovered from the foot injury he sustained on July 12, and then the late moment of selflessness from Ringrose. 'They are all difficult and that is exactly how it should be,' Farrell said. 'They all matter because it is such a huge game, I honestly believe this is one of the biggest, if not the biggest game we have all been involved with so selection always matters in that regard… until we get to the next one.' AUSTRALIA: Tom Wright; Max Jorgensen, Joseph Suaalii, Len Ikitau, Harry Potter; Tom Lynagh, Jake Gordon; James Slipper, David Porecki, Alan Alaalatoa; Nick Frost, Will Skelton; Rob Valetini, Fraser McReight, Harry Wilson – captain. Replacements: Billy Pollard, Angus Bell, Tom Robertson, Jeremy Williams, Langi Gleeson, Carlo Tizzano, Tate McDermott, Ben Donaldson. BRITISH & IRISH LIONS: H Keenan (Ireland); T Freeman (England), H Jones (Scotland), B Aki (Ireland), J Lowe (Ireland); F Russell (Scotland), Jamison Gibson-Park (Ireland); A Porter (Ireland), Dan Sheehan (Ireland), Tadhg Furlong (Ireland); M Itoje (England) – captain, O Chessum (England); T Beirne (Ireland), Tom Curry (England), J Conan (Ireland). Replacements: R Kelleher (Ireland), E Genge (England), W Stuart (England), J Ryan (Ireland), J Morgan (Wales), A Mitchell (England), O Farrell (England), B Kinghorn (Scotland).
Irish Examiner
15 hours ago
- Sport
- Irish Examiner
Ringrose and McCarthy miss out but Farrell names nine Irish in Lions starting 15 for second Test
Andy Farrell selected a record nine Irishmen in his British & Irish Lions starting line-up for Saturday's second Test against Australia at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. It is a record contingent from one nation in a Lions Test side for the professional era, Farrell having started eight from the Ireland team he has coached since succeeding Joe Schmidt as head coach in 2019. Now Australia head coach, Schmidt also named his second test team on Thursday, recalling fit-again power forwards Will Skelton and Rob Valetini as well as hooker David Porecki but keeping faith with the backline which opened the series, anchored by half-backs Jake Gordon and Tom Lynagh. There are three changes in total from the Lions starting side which laid the platform for last Saturday's first Test victory over the Wallabies, a 27-19 win in Brisbane, with Bundee Aki's selection ahead of Sione Tuipulotu at inside centre the biggest surprise, creating a mix and match duo with Scotland's Huw Jones. Tuipulotu, a Melbourne native, was denied a Test homecoming with the Lions due to a tight hamstring. It breaks up the all-Scottish midfield partnership with Jones which started last Saturday, although Farrell explained he had wanted to select an all-Irish pairing of Aki and Garry Ringrose as his starting combination but the outside centre reported a recurrence of concussion symptoms that had forced him out of the first Test. 'Sione has a little bit of a tight hamstring there, so that influences that,' Farrell said. 'Huw comes in. Garry was actually selected and unfortunately, in training today, he's had to pull out. That's unfortunate for Garry. 'But, we've always said it's about the squad, and nothing but about the squad. And we're delighted for Huw to come in and be ready to go for Saturday.' Farrell backed his centres to thrive as a partnership. 'They'll be good. At this stage of the tour and well before this stage of the tour, actually, the combinations have been absolutely fine together. So Bundee and Huw will hit it off exactly like any other type of partnership.' Asked to compare Tuipulotu and Aki, Farrell added: 'Very similar in many ways. Both direct and abrasive and combative type characters and exactly what you want as far as you go forward and gain line success and not just that. On the other side of the ball, they're pretty good there as well, so very similar in that regard.' Ireland's Andrew Porter is preferred to Ellis Genge at loosehead prop to form an all-Irish front row with hooker Dan Sheehan and tighthead Tadhg Furlong while there is an enforced change to the second row where Joe McCarthy failed to recover from the foot issue that saw him depart the first Test after 42 minutes. Captain Maro Itoje now partners England team-mate Ollie Chessum in the second row while the back row is unchanged following standout performances from Tadhg Beirne, fellow flanker Tom Curry and No.8 Jack Conan. There will be joy in Wales with the selection of Jac Morgan as the back-row replacement, the Lions having last Saturday fielded a Test squad without a Welshman for the first time since 1896. Morgan replaces Ben Earl on the bench while James Ryan fills the vacuum as the lock replacement following the promotion of Chessum to the starting side. The other changes to the bench are backs, with Owen Farrell replacing Marcus Smith and providing cover at 10 and 12, following an impressive 80-minute performance last Tuesday captaining the Lions to a narrow win over the First Nations & Pasifika XV. The former England captain's selection means the 32-year-old, son of the head coach, is in line to appear in his fourth Lions Test series having debuted in 2013 against the Australians. Scrum-half Alex Mitchell retain his place among the replacements but Aki's move into the number 12 jersey sees wing/full-back Blair Kinghorn named as the outside backs replacement. Reacting to the Wallabies team changes, Farrell said: 'Well, I mean, it is what it says on the tin. It's obvious what they're going to bring and why they're selected, so I suppose they're delighted with that, and the 6-2 bench just backs that up a little bit, doesn't it? So it's not unexpected.' Having taken control of the series with that opening victory over the Wallabies, the Lions boss did not shy away from the potential to wrap up the series in front of an expected 90,0000-plus crowd at the MCG on Saturday. 'That's been spoken about from day one when we met as a group. We're the privileged ones that get the opportunity to do something special and hopefully create a bit of history. 'There's a determined Australian side that's in our way that's going to try and stop us to do that, so it's a hell of a Test.' AUSTRALIA: Tom Wright; Max Jorgensen, Joseph Suaalii, Len Ikitau, Harry Potter; Tom Lynagh, Jake Gordon; James Slipper, David Porecki, Alan Alaalatoa; Nick Frost, Will Skelton; Rob Valetini, Fraser McReight, Harry Wilson – captain. Replacements: Billy Pollard, Angus Bell, Tom Robertson, Jeremy Williams, Langi Gleeson, Carlo Tizzano, Tate McDermott, Ben Donaldson. BRITISH & IRISH LIONS: Hugo Keenan (Leinster/Ireland); Tommy Freeman (Northampton Saints/England), Huw Jones (Glasgow Warriors/Scotland), Bundee Aki (Connacht/Ireland), James Lowe (Leinster/Ireland); Finn Russell (Bath/Scotland), Jamison Gibson-Park (Leinster/Ireland); Andrew Porter (Leinster/Ireland), Dan Sheehan (Leinster/Ireland), Tadhg Furlong (Leinster/Ireland); Maro Itoje (Saracens/England) – captain, Ollie Chessum (Leicester Tigers/England); Tadhg Beirne (Munster/Ireland), Tom Curry (Sale Sharks/England), Jack Conan (Leinster/Ireland). Replacements: Ronan Kelleher (Leinster /Ireland), Ellis Genge (Bristol Bears/England), Will Stuart (Bath/England), James Ryan (Leinster /Ireland), Jac Morgan (Ospreys/Wales), Alex Mitchell (Northampton Saints/England), Owen Farrell (Saracens/England), Blair Kinghorn (Toulouse/Scotland)
Irish Examiner
15 hours ago
- Sport
- Irish Examiner
Itoje praises Ringrose's selflessness amid concussion woes
British & Irish Lions captain Maro Itoje paid tribute to the selflessness of Garry Ringrose following the centre's self-removal from the Test side to face Australia at the Melbourne Cricket Ground this Saturday. Ringrose had on Wednesday night been selected by head coach Andy Farrell at outside centre in all-Ireland midfield partnership with Bundee Aki but reported a return of the concussion symptoms that had caused him to miss the first Test last Saturday as he was coming off the training field at Xavier College on Thursday morning. Huw Jones was reinstated to the number 13 jersey he wore in the opening Test victory over the Wallabies in Brisbane last weekend. Tour captain Itoje, who will lead a Lions team containing a record nine Irishmen in the starting line-up, seven of them from Leinster, praised Ringrose's team-first actions. "Firstly, absolutely gutted for Garry,' Itoje said. 'I played against Garry at Under-20s and we both had our international careers. To play with him and get to know him over the last couple of months has been a real privilege and honour. 'I'm gutted for him that he's in this position. But, also, it shows the measure of the man to be so selfless. 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." Ringrose had sustained the initial concussion against the AUSNZ Invitational XV in Adelaide on July 12 and was stood down from rugby for 12 days. He returned to duty as a replacement in the midweek tour game against the First Nations & Pasifika XV at Marvel Stadium last Tuesday and replaced the injured Darcy Graham after just 16 minutes. Head coach Farrell explained what had caused Ringrose to withdraw himself from a Lions Test debut. 'It's head-related again. I actually don't know at this stage. It was literally as I was walking off the field, he came to me, and once it's mentioned, that's that. 'So there was no incident. He was feeling good, well in advance of Tuesday, and fit and ready to play. No incident through the (midweek) game at all, nothing yesterday and nothing this morning at all, but 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 is unclear whether the 30-year-old will have to enter a fresh return-to-play protocol, but Farrell praised his player's honesty in reporting his inability to take the field. 'It's tough to do that. 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.' Ringrose's Leinster and Ireland team-mate Andrew Porter, promoted from the bench to starting loosehead in Thursday's team announcement spoke of his disappointment for his friend. "I only heard that before coming in that he withdrew himself, he wasn't pulled aside by a coach,' Porter said. "It's incredibly disappointing for Garry, but it shows his character and the player that he is to pull himself aside. "I think that would be an incredibly hard thing to do given the magnitude of the game, but it's a testament to the player and person he is that he put the team first and if he's not right, he's not right. "He's looking to let someone who is fit and able to come in to the squad. It speaks volume of him and who he is to do that."
Irish Examiner
3 days ago
- Sport
- Irish Examiner
Jamie Osborne and Thomas Clarkson set to experience the joy of becoming a Lion
The British & Irish Lions go into their final midweek match of this 2025 tour against the First Nations & Pasifika XV with two different narratives around team selection. First, the joy of becoming a Lion for the likes of Jamie Osborne and Thomas Clarkson, two young Irishmen among a group of five debutants handed the opportunity of a rugby-playing lifetime to join a select group of players representing the best of English, Irish, Scottish and Welsh rugby, if only for one game. Secondly, an opportunity of a different kind, for Josh van der Flier and Jac Morgan, Blair Kinghorn and Garry Ringrose and others besides to stake their claim for Test selection against Australia this Saturday at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. They will offer contrasting motivations at Marvel Stadium on Tuesday but head coach Andy Farrell will demand that this team of Test hopefuls and first timers will be synchronised enough to keep the Lions' momentum rolling from last Saturday's Brisbane victory over the Wallabies into this weekend's potential Test decider for the tourists. Naturally enough, the battle for insertion into a winning Test 23 will occupy coaches' minds most ahead of their final selection meeting on Wednesday night here in Melbourne but that did not stop assistant coach Simon Easterby waxing lyrical about the opportunity this midweek game presents to Clarkson, 25, and Osborne, 24. 'It goes without saying, the quality of those two individuals,' Easterby said. Jamie Osborne during a training session. Pic: ©INPHO/Billy Stickland. 'Tom's fought through a pretty tough position at Leinster, never mind in the Irish squad, and he's put in some brilliant performances. 'He really has stood up and bringing them on the 'Emerging Ireland' tour. He was certainly someone that we felt could step up over the next couple of years, but he's been excellent. 'He's fought for everything and in a pretty tough position where being a tighthead probably takes a good few years to learn your trade, he's certainly in a really good place. 'Jamie has had a brilliant couple of years. The performance he had in South Africa last summer, his performance for Leinster playing 12, 13, wing, 15, it was pretty impressive, the positions he can cover and the quality that he brings to the group as well. 'I'm really pleased with the two of them. They fully deserve being here and no doubt they'll perform really well tomorrow.' Ten days on from a blowout win against a scratch AUSNZ Invitational XV that failed to live up collectively that their teamsheet suggested of the individuals concerned, this First Nations & Pasifika XV will at least have a purpose and identity as the first side of its kind selected from Samoan, Fijian, Tongan, Māori and Indigenous Australian cultures. Their head coach Toutai Kefu, won 60 caps for the Wallabies and has named a matchday squad of 17 players with Pasifika heritage and six indigenous First Nations players included. Even so, they will find it tough going against a hardened Lions side bristling with intent and ambition for Test recognition this Saturday but Easterby gave Kefu's side the respect they deserve. 'You look at the teamsheet and they have some incredible individuals. They'll try to make a mark. 'Some of them have played against the Lions on this trip already, some of them won't, and that is probably is something those players will feel they want to lay down a bit of a marker and bring their own skillset and individuality to their game. It's certainly an impressive outfit when you look at it on paper. 'I guess our challenge, as it always is, is to be as connected as we can be in terms of the way we play, in terms of the guys who aren't involved to prepare the team that plays tomorrow. Everyone's been chipping in and been part of that. 'It's an exciting team, but certainly an exciting challenge and opportunity for our guys to go out and stake a claim for the next couple of weeks.' FIRST NATIONS & PASIFIKA XV (Cultural heritage in brackets): Andy Muirhead (First Nations); Triston Reilly (First Nations), Lalakai Foketi (Māori & Tonga), David Feliuai (Samoa), Filipo Daugunu (Fiji); Kurtley Beale (First Nations) – captain; Kalani Thomas (Māori); Lington Ieli (Fiji), Brandon Paenga-Amosa (Samoa & Māori), Taniela Tupou (Tonga); Darcy Swain (Samoa), Lukhan Salakaia-Loto (Samoa); Sere Uru (Fiji), Charlie Gamble (Tonga), Tuaina Taii Tualima (Samoa). Replacements: Richie Asiata (Samoa), Marley Pearce (Māori & First Nations), Mesake Doge (Fiji), Mesake Vocevoce (Fiji), Rob Leota (Samoa), Harrison Goddard (First Nations), Jack Debreczeni (Cook Island), Jarrah McLeod (First Nations). BRITISH & IRISH LIONS: B Kinghorn (Scotland); D Graham (Scotland), J Osborne (Ireland), O Farrell (England) – captain, D van der Merwe (Scotland); F Smith (England), B White (Scotland); P Schoeman (Scotland), J George (England), F Bealham (Ireland); J Ryan (Ireland), S Cummings (Scotland); J Morgan (Wales), J van der Flier (Ireland), H Pollock (England). Replacements: E Ashman (Scotland), R Sutherland (Scotland), T Clarkson (Ireland), G Brown (Scotland), B Earl (England), A Mitchell (England), M Smith (England), G Ringrose (Ireland). Referee: Nika Amashukeli (Georgia).
Spectator
6 days ago
- Sport
- Spectator
The slow death of Welsh rugby
Heard the joke about the Englishmen, Irishmen and Scotsmen? They have all been selected for the British and Irish Lions squad to face Australia in Brisbane today. At the expense of the Welshman. The fact that no Welshman has been included among the 23 players chosen for the first of three Test matches is further confirmation of the diminishing stock of Welsh rugby. The last time a Lions matchday squad had no Welsh representation was in 1896. When in May, Lions' coach Andy Farrell named his 38 players for the tour of Australia there were fifteen Irishmen, thirteen Englishmen, eight Scots and two Welshmen – their lowest representation since 1903. One of that pair, scrum-half Tomas Williams, tore his hamstring in the first match in Australia and returned home, leaving flanker Jac Morgan as the only Welshman Down Under. Morgan didn't make the squad for Saturday's first Test and will watch the match from the stand, along with thousands of Welsh rugby fans who are in Australia for the series. It wasn't so long ago that Welsh Lions fans had much to celebrate; the last time the Lions played a series in Australia – in 2013 – eight of the starting XV for the first Test were Welsh. In the twelve years since, however, Welsh rugby has become a shambles on and off the pitch. So far have they fallen that there was jubilation in the valleys when they beat Japan. That win last week ended an 18-match losing streak, a run that started in the autumn of 2023. They went through the 2024 and 2025 Six Nations without a win, and in this year's championship they were thrashed 43-0 by France and humiliated 68-14 in Cardiff against England. It was Wales' heaviest home defeat and their biggest loss in Six Nations history. There was a time when Englishmen quaked in their boots at the thought of a trip to Cardiff. In the 1977 Five Nations, Wales captain Phil Bennett fired up his team in the dressing room by telling them: 'Look what these bastards have done to Wales. They've taken our coal, our water, our steel…We've been exploited, raped, controlled and punished by the English – and that's who you are playing this afternoon.' That was the period when Welsh rugby was at its most dominant. Between 1964 and 1979, they lost only once to England. They produced some of the greatest players in the history of rugby – Bennett, Gareth Edwards, Barry John and Mervyn Davies – and won three Five Nations' Grand Slams in the 1970s. Welsh rugby in this period was unique among its British and Irish rivals in that it was the sport of the working-class. It was played by miners, steel workers and dockers, forging an identity and a pride to towns such as Neath, Bridgend, Maesteg and Pontypool. 'There used to be a time when the Welsh selectors could whistle down any mine shaft in the country and up would come a new pack,' reflected a Wales newspaper in 2005. These packs of forwards were hard men, harder than anything the English could produce, whose players were mostly products of public schools. But those days are long gone, along with the mines. The last Welsh rugby international who worked down the mines was Garin Jenkins, a regular in the team during the 1990s. That was the decade when rugby union turned professional. In the amateur era, Wales punched above its weight, but professionalism motivated France and England to maximise their far greater resources. They still struggle to make the most of their potential, unlike Ireland, who have gone from the Five Nations' whipping boys of the 1980s and 1990s to Europe's pre-eminent side in recent years. Wales have gone in the other direction. If the deindustrialisation of Wales had a devastating effect on grassroots rugby, so has the chronic mismanagement of the professional game by the Welsh Rugby Union (WRU). So widespread was the chaos in 2023 that it even made the New York Times, in an article headlined 'A Year in Crisis Takes Its Toll on Welsh Rugby'. All the charges against the WRU were aired: from accusations of a toxic work environment to financial ineptness. But perhaps the greatest fault of the WRU is the one that many hold responsible for the nation's demise as a rugby powerhouse. In 2004, the WRU restructured schools and youth rugby in Wales, unnecessarily tinkering with a system that for decades had produced a conveyer belt of talent for senior rugby. Welsh rugby writer Huw S Thomas says that, as a result, 'the Welsh schools became toothless and the Saturday leagues petered out, with 100 youth teams believed to have disappeared in the past 20 years'. How many youngsters have slipped through the rugby net in these years, turning instead to football – which has enjoyed a surge in popularity recently, thanks to the success of the Wales team – or loafing on their sofa playing video games? Welsh rugby players once blamed the English 'bastards' for the ills of their country, but the damage done to their sport this century is home-grown. Welsh rugby needs a root-and-branch reform. If things don't change, when the Lions next tour, to New Zealand in 2029, the Welsh representation may have decreased from one to zero.
