Latest news with #LionsSquad
The Irish Sun
20-05-2025
- Sport
- The Irish Sun
Australia boss Joe Schmidt breaks his silence on Lions squad announcement before issuing rallying cry to home fans
WALLABY boss Joe Schmidt has weighed in on the 2025 Lions squad announcement. The former Ireland boss was speaking on 2 Australia boss Joe Schmidt weighed in on the Lions Squad before issuing a rallying cry to his fans 2 Joe Schmidt also reckons Andy Farrell's side may use international combinations for his starting XV test side Schmidt will But the ex- But he will officially then quit the Australia job to care for his son Luke, who battles severe Epilepsy. It means a new head coach will take charge for the end-of-year tour and lead the team into the World Cup on home soil. read more on rugby But ahead of the summer tour, Schmidt thinks 'Some of those combinations could be dangerous — especially if they go with an all-Irish front row to start. "Andrew Furlong with Tadhg Furlong, and Dan Sheehan in the middle of them, and you've got Luke Cowan-Dickie or Ronan Kelleher to come off the bench for them. "It could be an all-English front row to come on a replace them, Ellis Genge." Most read in Rugby Union When further quizzed about how he reckons how Farrell will select his starting XV in the test games, Schmidt added that it's a realistic possibility that the Ireland boss may stick with international combinations instead of chopping an changing. Schmidt added: "Potentially, especially if you're trying to fast-track things. "But at the same time they have a nice run in of those half-dozen game [The build up tour games]. Argentina and the games before the first test to test those combinations, if they want to tinker with a few things. The Aussie boss went on to issue a rally cry to their fans ahead of the upcoming series after being asked about the home side's supporters. He concluded: "We love that support that's built, even being at The Warriors game on Sunday - people coming up to us and saying, 'we''re 100% behind you. "It does give confidence to players, and a the same time the players are going to have to earn whatever you get from the crowd. "We're very conscious of that, those moments that matter, you earn it back behind the training fence. You earn it working on your cohesion and getting your performance habits as positively honed as you can. "What I'd say, 'bring your confidence and your voice, and we'll bring our energy and effort to try and keep you entertained, and also that we can be as competitive as we need to be."
Daily Mail
16-05-2025
- Sport
- Daily Mail
Will Stuart has earned his place in Andy Farrell's Lions squad, writes NIK SIMON - get to know the Bath prop who has PTSD from another sport, shies away from the limelight and refused to watch his big call-up!
1.30pm, Thursday, May 8th was a time that had been marked in most rugby players' calendars for months. Reminders had been sent to tune into the TV, perch nervously on the edge of the sofa and watch Andy Farrell name his Lions squad live on air. In that career defining moment, as every contender held their breath, Will Stuart was pottering around in his back garden, cutting up panels of wood. Pencil behind his ear, measuring tape at the ready, his biggest focus was on how to avoid splinters.
BBC News
13-05-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
Rugby Union Weekly The Farrell debate and fancy dress season
The Lions squad continues to dominate the pod agenda as speculation intensifies around the two extra players Andy Farrell said he would take on tour. Ugo is convinced Owen Farrell will get one of those places, but is there another Englishman who could also get the nod? Danny and Ashy give their take on the 38-man squad and explain just how tough it is to miss out on selection after Mike Brown's comments about his omission in 2017. We also look back on a special farewell for Peter O'Mahony at Thomond Park, hear all about Ashy's eventful train journey back from Cardiff and react to the news that Geoff Parling will replace Michael Cheika as Leicester DOR next season.
Telegraph
12-05-2025
- Sport
- Telegraph
Adding Owen Farrell to Lions squad is fraught with risk
This is a strange time for those players who have been named as part of the 38-man British and Irish Lions squad to tour Australia. You could call it a 'phoney war', but it is from this point on that their thoughts will turn to the battle for starting berths. It is an honour to be selected for any Lions tour, but Test appearances make the experience complete. Every selected player will have this at the back of his mind from now until the first Test squad is named. All this has been made more opaque by Andy Farrell's decision to leave open two places to give what he calls 'wiggle room' to continue to look at 'a few guys that are trying to play back into fitness and form'. I understand the need for flexibility, but this decision has to be balanced against the uncertainty it brings to the squad psyche. Farrell and his team will have planned the methods through which they intend to mould players from four different countries into a united unit. They will understand the difficulties that players have accepting a secondary role, having been used to being a first choice for most of their careers. They will also bear in mind that each player needs to see that they have had a genuine opportunity to contest for a Test-squad jersey. Nothing undermines a tour like a split in the camp and this one will kick off with the Lions as firm favourites, irrespective of the fact that Australia's form has recently improved. It is a series that they should win with the combined talents available. Most of the speculation around the 'mystery two' has naturally been about Owen Farrell, Andy Farrell's son who recently suffered a head injury during Racing 92's Challenge Cup semi-final defeat by Lyon. Farrell snr is far too professional to allow personal issues to intrude on what would now be a controversial pick, given Farrell jnr's injury-hit season with Racing. If Owen is to be one of the two choices, his selection could have already been made and justified by his abundant experience at Test level and of his previous tours with the Lions. A later selection just complicates things further. Lions history shows that there will be replacements needed during the tour and that anywhere between six and 10 players might be put on the plane back home due to injury. However, given Blair Kinghorn's ability to cover as a fourth fly-half, it is not at No 10 that the squad needs further back-up. Depending on where they ask Elliot Daly to play, it is in the centre where injuries early in the tour might force Farrell's hand, and the choice of only two specialist No 8s might also come into play, depending on whether Farrell wants to follow the recent trend to have a 6-2, forwards to backs, split on his match-day bench. I would be more concerned about the back row, given that they routinely record the highest work rates of all players during games. Another specialist blindside flanker would give Farrell more options when it comes to balancing the back row and doing so from a position of choice rather than reaction. If Tadhg Beirne or Ollie Chessum, who have both played in the No 6 jersey, are being considered as possible blindsides, they ideally need to have played in their back-row units for a couple of games before they play in a Test match. Each selected player must now negotiate a difficult end to their domestic season, needing to play without restraint but knowing that anything more than a trivial injury will deny them an opportunity that only comes around every four years. It is also difficult to celebrate with team-mates who have made the Lions selection, while not treading on the sensibilities of those who have not. It is easy to say that as professionals this comes with the job, but players are not automatons, and they know that the full attention of all their colleagues is needed for the domestic play-offs and finals to come. Finally, spare a thought for players who are in the most difficult of all positions, the ones who have undoubtedly been told that they are on the 'reserve' list for call-ups. The players and their unions will probably have been notified, but the list will remain confidential. Keeping fit and knowing that your only way on to the tour will be via an injury to a fellow player is a strange mindset. Hoping that someone gets injured might not be professional but it is understandable.
Telegraph
11-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Telegraph
Fin Smith: I grew up running around in my grandfather's old Lions kit
Reaction videos are becoming a distinguished tradition of British and Irish Lions squad announcements and Fin Smith provided the most compelling this time around. His was a veritable rollercoaster. Sitting among Northampton Saints team-mates, the young fly-half pumped a fist immediately upon hearing his name. He was subsequently mobbed by club colleagues. Then, as the pile-on untangled again, Smith covered his eyes and began to weep (see video below – explicit language can be heard). Smith's grandfather, Scotland prop Tom Elliot, toured with the Lions in 1955. Although Elliot died in 1998, four years before Smith was born, he remained an inspiration to his grandson. It was a proud reflection on family fabric – quite literally – that overwhelmed Smith on Thursday afternoon. 'I've grown up running around in [my grandfather's] old kit and his old blazer,' he explained on Friday lunchtime, 24 hours after his selection was confirmed by Ieuan Evans. 'I believe that I'm English and play for England. He obviously played for Scotland, but all I've ever wanted to do is be like him and replicate him. To actually have the chance to do that and wear the same shirt and the same badge that he did is incredibly special. 'It made mum and her side of the family pretty emotional yesterday. They're all at home with their Scottish accents and can half-heartedly cheer for me when I play for England but this is the pinnacle really. Doing what he's done and following in his footsteps is the main thing, for me. That's what makes me more proud than any individual accolade I could have. It's amazing.' The longest wait… @finsmithh was the last of our Lions to hear his name read out, and just look what it meant 🥹 — Northampton Saints 😇 (@SaintsRugby) May 9, 2025 Few members of Andy Farrell's travelling party will be as excited for the suit fitting. 'I'm hoping they'll have some swanky sponsor who can come and measure us all up,' Smith added. 'I've got [Elliot's] old one from 1955 at home. It's a bit dusty and there are a few holes in it, but it'll be cool to have both of those.' Smith is always refreshingly candid and described the week leading into the Lions announcement, even in the afterglow of a 37-34 victory over Leinster in the Investec Champions Cup semi-final, as 'horrific'. 'When it got announced, I was an absolute wreck,' he added. 'I don't really cry and never have but I was bawling my eyes out. I went outside and phoned my parents. They were both sobbing, I was sobbing on the other end of the phone. 'We didn't actually say a word to each other; we just sort of watched each other cry and then hung up the phone. It's something so rare in sport these days that you find out in that manner. It really is that rare and raw. Mental. What a day.' What has been an 'up and down' campaign for Smith began in autumn with him as England's third-choice fly-half behind Marcus Smith and George Ford. Some six months on, he is finishing the season with considerable momentum. A Champions Cup final against Bordeaux-Bègles looms on May 24 in Cardiff before the Lions depart and Smith is particularly looking forward to teaming up with Johnny Sexton, the ex-Ireland fly-half seconded to Farrell's set-up as an assistant coach. Alex Mitchell, Tommy Freeman and the effervescent Henry Pollock make it four Saints in the Lions squad due to head Down Under. The quartet found out about their inclusion among Northampton colleagues. Others at the same gathering, such as Fraser Dingwall and George Furbank, were left disappointed. An alphabetical unveiling meant that Freeman's inclusion, heralded immediately after that of Elliot Daly, simultaneously signalled the omission of Dingwall. Yet the tight-knit nature of this Saints group was obvious in the euphoria that greeted each call-up. Smith emphasised his admiration for Dingwall, who turned dinner host that evening, as a galvanising and selfless presence. 'Dingers and Furbs are two unbelievable players who could well have been in that squad,' he said. 'What a testament to those two in general, just as people. 'Dingers found out that he wasn't in the squad as soon as Tommy's name was read out, and he jumped straight over to him and gave him the biggest hug ever. It was genuine joy, and Furbs was just delighted. 'We went on and had a nice celebration that evening and Dingers was the one who hosted us all. He said: 'Come over, I've got a couple of bottles of champagne for you guys. I'll do a meal for you all.' 'To be as disappointed as I'm sure he was and to put that aside and show genuine happiness for your mate, realise it is a special day for them and want to be there for them... I don't know how he did it. I'm not a good enough person to do that. I'd have told them all to f--- off and sat at home. Fair play to him. What a guy.' Dingwall opted for ready-made catering rather than cooking from scratch, but Smith seemed to have forgiven him. 'He'd actually gone to M&S and got some of those little pre-made dishes, so I can't give him any credit for that,' said Smith, who celebrates his 23rd birthday on Sunday. 'He's usually good, though. And the champagne was very tasty.'
