British and Irish Lions to play combined New Zealand-Australia XV on 2025 tour
NEWS: The British and Irish Lions will face a joint Australia-New Zealand side in an unofficial “fourth Test” on their 2025 tour, which will include matches against the Wallabies in Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne, it was announced on Wednesday.
The clash against an “Anzac XV” in Adelaide will be part of a nine-game visit that will also see the Lions, with players from England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales, take on all five Australian Super Rugby sides.
The British and Irish Lions combine the best players from England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales, touring either Australia, New Zealand or South Africa every four years – meaning the Lions only visit Australia every 12 years.
The travelling festival is expected to attract 40,000 international visitors to Australia, who will tour around the country and deliver a strong economic outcome for all the participating cities, states, and territories.
“The British & Irish Lions Tour is one of the great sporting festivals – it is a real landmark of Australian and world sport. Rugby Australia is looking forward to welcoming back the Lions for the first time in 12 years – as well as the tens of thousands of Lions fans from the northern hemisphere,” said Rugby Australia CEO, Phil Waugh.
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Let the countdown begin ⏳
Bring on 2025 🙌 pic.twitter.com/8Fw4Gdlrlv
— British & Irish Lions (@lionsofficial) July 19, 2023
“It is an exciting fixture of matches all around the country with the Lions taking on our Super Rugby franchises, three massive Test matches, and a marquee match in Adelaide featuring a combined invitational Australia-New Zealand side.”
The Lions Tour will be the first of the major rugby events to visit Australia as part of the golden decade of Rugby; the 2025 Lions Tour will be followed by major Rugby events being hosted in Australia including the 2027 Rugby World Cup for men, the 2029 Rugby World Cup for women, and Rugby Sevens at the 2032 Brisbane Olympics.
Wednesday’s announcement took place in Brisbane, exactly two years before the first Test between the Wallabies and Lions at Suncorp Stadium in the Queensland capital.
The second Test will be at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on 26 July, with the final Test match taking place at Accor Stadium in Sydney on 2 August.
The Tour will kick off in Australia on 28 June in Perth, with the Western Force hosting the visitors at Optus Stadium, before the Lions travel to the east coast to take on the Reds at Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane on 2 July.
The tourists head south the following weekend with clashes against the Waratahs at Allianz Stadium in Sydney on 5 July and the ACT Brumbies at GIO Stadium in Canberra on 9 July.
Adelaide Oval will host the final Tour game before the first Test, a marquee match-up between the Lions and an invitational Australia-New Zealand combined team on 12 July in what shapes up to be something of a “fourth Test” on the Tour.
The Lions will take on the Melbourne Rebels at Marvel Stadium between the first two Tests on 22 July.
Australia shares a long history with the Lions, with Australia’s first ever Rugby Test match taking place against a British Isles team at the Sydney Cricket Ground in 1899 on the Lions’ first tour to Australia – the home side won its first match, but lost the Series to the visitors.
The Lions last toured Australia in 2013, with the tourists winning the Test Series 2-1, while the ACT Brumbies claimed a famous victory in the nation’s capital.
Twelve years earlier, the Wallabies scored a famous, come-from-behind 2-1 Series win with a dramatic 29-23 triumph in the decider.
Lions 2025 schedule:
Saturday June 28: v Western Force, Optus Stadium, Perth
Wednesday July 2: v Queensland Reds, Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane
Saturday July 5: s New South Wales Waratahs, Allianz Stadium, Sydney
Wednesday July 9: v ACT Brumbies, GIO Stadium, Canberra
Saturday July 12: v Invitational Australian and New Zealand XV, Adelaide Oval
Saturday July 19: v Wallabies, Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane
Tuesday July 22: v Melbourne Rebels, Marvel Stadium, Melbourne
Saturday July 26: v Wallabies, Melbourne Cricket Ground
Saturday August 2: v Wallabies, Stadium Australia, Sydney
