2025 British and Irish Lions Tour of Australia

[Greenstar5]

The type of rugby played the last two games reminded me of the south africa v Ireland pool game in the world cup. A battle of attrition at the collision zone and then using speed on the outside when the opportunity comes, its exhilarating to watch.

I dont know if we have the depth to always play that style of rugby but its what the modern game is all about, france and south africa are the best proponents of it. Argentina when on song also are capable of it.

We really need to get skelton/valentini/tupou right for next world cup. Tom hooper was awesome too and I dont know why schmidt didnt pick LSL but he needs to be part of the squad going forward. Cant think of many other forwards we have that consistently get over the advantage line like that group do.
Pietsch's abrasiveness and tenacity out wide was a big improvement on HP too.

Lastly, wild to think jorgensen and Suaalii are only 20 and 22, can't wait to see how they are combining for the world cup as more seasoned 22 and 24 year olds (and I wonder if Marky Mark will be back by then to join them?).

Yeah agreed.

Guys like Tupou need to be managed. Let them go overseas, but not lost to the Wallabies. Bring them back for select games or series. We are going to need them for the WC.

 

[joey_jo_jo]

Yeah agreed.

Guys like Tupou need to be managed. Let them go overseas, but not lost to the Wallabies. Bring them back for select games or series. We are going to need them for the WC.

He was interviewed after the game by The Roar and said he is available whenever the wallabies want him (I feel skelton would be the same). We need to pick these guys and hooper regardless of where theyre playing and if they're clubs refuse to release them during the international window we need to take the fight up with world rugby.

 

[Seedsfan]

Yeh I thought we needed a second test leading in.

Need to build on this. Don't get smashed in TRC. Don't come last. Win those games against the Pumas at home is a must.

Beating NZ in Perth is a must they aren’t as strong as they use to be

 

[Greenstar5]

Interesting times ahead for the Wallabies. Hopefully there will be more interest in them during the TRC.

Just some thoughts from the series from my end.

Wallabies better than expected. Reckon they might feel like they missed a chance to do something special. Anyways better than the rabble of 2 years ago. If they get it right should have a strong squad come the World Cup.

The MCG game will go down as one of the great rugby test matches.

Thought the AUNZ side and game was a disappointment. Should be an Aus A side.

The selections of Wallabies players or players with past Wallabies test caps for tour games was a mess.

But the experience of some of the younger players, e.g Tane Edmed would have got from playing it valuable in heading forward.

Stan Sport did a good job of the broadcasting the product. Probably lacked that real media build up. RA could have done better there.

Talk of not coming back. Crazy thinking. This will be the most profitable series ever. Doubt NZ in 4 years makes the same money. Don't think Argentina has the rugby infrastructure to host. Do they even have a decent domestic league?

 

[Greenstar5]

Thanks to everyone for the chats over the past few weeks. was great to see some activity on the Rugby Board.

Recap on some numbers

Tour Crowds
80 312 in Sydney (Accor) 3rd test
90 207 in Melbourne (MCG) 2nd Test
30 420 in Melbourne (Marvel) v FNP XV
52 229 in Brisbane 1st Test
43 124 in Adelaide v AUNZ
23 116 in Canberra v ACT Brumbies
28 132 in Newcastle Wallabies v Fiji
40 568 in Sydney (Allianz) v NSW Waratahs
46 435 in Brisbane v Qld Reds
46 656 in Perth v Western Force

450k total. 480k with Fiji game. reported 500k tickets sold. So 50k didn't show up lol.

Tv Ratings - Taken from Footyindustry

The first Australia v Lions game drew a free to air audience of 772,000 on the Nine Network including 89,000 on its streaming arm, 9NOW. It had a total audience reach of 1.778m. This was consolidated (including Time shifted viewing) to 803,000.

The second Australia v Lions game drew a free to air audience of 804,000 on the Nine Network, with 100,000 watching on 9NOW and a total reach of 1.893m. This was consolidated to 881,000.

The third Australia v Lions game drew a free to air audience of 689,000 on the Nine network with 83,000 watching on 9NOW and a total reach of 1.801m.

The Wallabies series v the British and Irish Lions had aggregate ratings of 2.2373 million at an average of 791,000 per match on Nine.

2025 Lions AU Rugby Tour - SportsIndustryAU

The British & Irish Lions Tour of Australia was attended by 453,237 at an average of 50,360, using 86% of available capacity - this includes all tour

footyindustry.com

Some really good numbers. Okay not Origin Juggernaut Levels, but still good.


Also F**k the NRL comments (I love NRL too) any chance to crap on rugby and they take it.

 

[joey_jo_jo]

Interesting times ahead for the Wallabies. Hopefully there will be more interest in them during the TRC.

Just some thoughts from the series from my end.

Wallabies better than expected. Reckon they might feel like they missed a chance to do something special. Anyways better than the rabble of 2 years ago. If they get it right should have a strong squad come the World Cup.

The MCG game will go down as one of the great rugby test matches.

Thought the AUNZ side and game was a disappointment. Should be an Aus A side.

The selections of Wallabies players or players with past Wallabies test caps for tour games was a mess.

But the experience of some of the younger players, e.g Tane Edmed would have got from playing it valuable in heading forward.

Stan Sport did a good job of the broadcasting the product. Probably lacked that real media build up. RA could have done better there.

Talk of not coming back. Crazy thinking. This will be the most profitable series ever. Doubt NZ in 4 years makes the same money. Don't think Argentina has the rugby infrastructure to host. Do they even have a decent domestic league?

Some great talking points here.

Re the test at the G going down as one of the best, despite it not being a rugby heartland for some reason melbourne has hosted some of the great wallaby performances. The 98 bledisloe triumph kickstarting the golden run, the Roff double after half time turned the 01 series on its head, mortlock heroics in the bledisloe in 07, another lions win in 2013 and the most unexpected of bledisloe performances (robbed by a terrible ref call at the death yet again) in 2022.

Agree re missed opportunities with selection, nothing as criminal as the 23 world cup where jones squandered one of the easiest draws in world cup history (a lowly Wales and fiji in the pool and avoiding the big 4 till the semis) with awful selections, but for all the good schmidt has done i can't help but wonder what could have been if guys like lsl, samu, tupou, hooper were picked from the 1st test (obviously he had no choice with skelton/valentini). Im still really proud of the performance overall though and I think they won a lot more respect than the more talented 2013 Wallabies. Its crazy to think we had our best player for only 40 minutes across the whole series!

Re the last point, I wouldn't believe the UK media beat up. Farrell was pretty strong in refuting this in the last week. If anything the main thing threatening the lions concept is the power the french clubs continue have in the club vs country battle.

 

[Hoop1888]

The Wallabies got better as the series went on. Did they have the right prep, we don't know? Maybe a little short another game or so leading in and maybe things are different.

I thought the Lions were Brillant in the first half of the first test and patches in the 2nd test second half. They were the better team across the series. won more moments when it counted.

The wallabies won't say this but I do reckon on reflection there is a missed chance.

They definitely did. I was cursing them at the end of the 1st test as I felt they should have had a go in attack in the last 20 minutes, instead of what felt like over-holding onto possession up front & playing it safe. Lions looked more visibly jaded around the 60 minute mark, but maybe the Wallabies were too.

2nd test, I don't know - I thought the clear out at 1st look looked sound, but then when I rewatched it I thought no, got that wrong. But Nigel Owens called it as perfectly legal so I would take his word for it. I seen Turinui explain why it was illegal and contact with the neck, but it was a question of both players engaging at the same time. It looked like Tizzano was bracing himself earlier to jackal the ball to me, but I still don't understand the rules around the breakdown or certain refs interpretations. That was definitely the game of the series and Australia bullied the Lions up front for the 1st half, no question. But it has always been a Schmidt trait to get his forwards well drilled and disciplined especially in defence. Is he gone after the Rugby Championship?

I think with the perceived notion that Australia would have gotten beaten relatively easily before the tour and the way the games played out, they come out of this looking good in a non patronising way. That Lions pack was decent and they mullered them at times, but I would still think Australia will probably struggle in the RC. Argentina seem to have gone up a level with their depth now and they have the backs to take advantage of their forwards go forward ball, Jorgensen and the 13 impressed for Australia, but that seems like an area of weakness for you guys. However, I think like you said, it's all about building for 2027.

 

[joey_jo_jo]

This is a great development

https://www.theroar.com.au/2025/08/05/schmidt-given-wallabies-selection-carte-blanche-as-ra-declares-giteau-law-redundant-no-impediment-to-joe/