Western Force v British & Irish Lions: rugby union
Update:
Date: 2025-06-28T09:00:21.000Z
Title: Preamble
Content: There's much mystique about the British & Irish Lions; chiefly born of the legendary victorious tours of the early 1970s and the 1997 outing to South Africa with it's associated documentary. This has led many to assume and expect that the Lions is about winning, but for years the tours were more about taking the notion of home country and nostalgia out to the colonies as a celebration of the putative factors that united us. Losing overall usually came in tandem with this.
Handy then, that this year's tour has managed to uphold tradition and heritage by losing nice and early so all the 'invincibles' chat can be shushed. However, the loss v Argentina was not technically part of the actual tour, so maybe not. Either way, this is the first game on Aussie soil and Andy Farrell and his men will be raring to have a W on the board before they cross the country to Queensland later in the week.
In the way is a Western Force side with some test experience smattered across them, not least in experienced scrum half Nic White. A quirky stat among the caps is replacement Australian hooker Nic Dolly, with his only test appearance being single game in 2021… for England.
This should be a nice and comfortable opener down under for the tourists, but let's see shall we?
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