Owen Farrell returns to Lions bench as Andy Farrell makes 3 changes for second test
Farrell led the Lions in their last midweek tour game against the First Nations and Pasifika squad and is now set to make his first test appearance since England's World Cup campaign in 2023 on Saturday.
His father, head coach Andy Farrell, recalled Bundee Aki to start at inside center to replace Sione Tuipulotu in the only change to the starting backline.
England's Ollie Chessum was drafted in to partner skipper Maro Itoje as a replacement for injured Ireland lock Joe McCarthy and Andrew Porter replaced Ellis Genge at loosehead, giving the Lions an all-Ireland frontrow.
Joining Owen Farrell on the bench will be Jac Morgan, restoring a Welsh player to the match 23 after an absence last weekend.
Australia coach Joe Schmidt made three changes to his starting pack with blindside flanker Rob Valetini and lock Will Skelton returning from injuries to add some size and weight and hooker David Porecki joining the frontrow.
Langi Gleeson returns as forward cover on the eight-man reserves bench, which only has two backs — scrumhalf Tate McDermott and utility Ben Donaldson.
The Wallabies need a win on Saturday in Melbourne to keep the three-test series alive.
The Lions are now 7-0 in Australia, including the 27-19 victory in last week's first test against the Wallabies and wins over Super Rugby franchises Western Force,Queensland Reds, Waratahs and Brumbies and two invitational teams.
The Lions have taken leads into the Melbourne match in the last two tours to Australia in 2001 and 2013 but lost the second test there both times. In 2001, Australia rallied to clinch the series in Sydney in the third test. The Lions won the Sydney decider 12 years ago.
Squads:
Australia: Tom Wright, Max Jorgensen, Joseph-Aukuso Sua'ali'i, Len Ikitau, Harry Potter, Tom Lynagh, Jake Gordon; Harry Wilson , Fraser McReight, Rob Valetini, Nick Frost, Allan Ala'alatoa, David Porecki, James Slipper. Reserves: Billy Pollard, Angus Bell, Tom Robertson, Jeremy Wiliams, Langi Gleeson, Carlo Tizzano, Tate McDermott, Ben Donaldson.
British and Irish Lions: Hugo Keenan , Tommy Freeman , Huw Jones , Bundee Aki , James Lowe , Finn Russell , Jamison Gibson-Park ; Jack Conan , Tom Curry , Tadhg Beirne , Ollie Chessum , Maro Itoje , Tadhg Furlong , Dan Sheehan , Andrew Porter . Reserves: Ronan Kelleher , Ellis Genge . Will Stuart , James Ryan , Jac Morgan , Alex Mitchell , Owen Farrell , Blair Kinghorn .
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Hindustan Times
23 minutes ago
- Hindustan Times
World Cup chess: Humpy, Divya draw Game 2, push match into tiebreaker
Mumbai: A more sedate draw in the second classical game of the FIDE Women's World Cup final between young Divya Deshmukh and the seasoned Koneru Humpy took matters into the faster tie-breaks on Monday to determine the new Indian champion at Batumi, Georgia. India's Koneru Humpy and Divya Deshmukh at the FIDE Women's World Cup final.(FIDE/X) Playing with white on Sunday, GM Humpy was expected to press for an advantage. Despite creating some chances towards the end to push her opponent into an awkward position, the two shook hands for a 34-move draw that was less dramatic than on Saturday. Still, speaking to FIDE after Sunday's game, the teen challenger felt it could've been a much easier draw for her. 'I got into some trouble for no reason,' she said. IM Divya has been the more adventurous finalist across the two classical games, but now enters into a rapid and blitz tie-breaks territory where her experienced opponent flaunts greater pedigree. Humpy, 38, is the reigning world rapid champion, a title she had also won in 2019. In the faster formats, as Divya herself called it, her opponent is a 'really strong player'. 'In rapid, Humpy is the current world champion. Even if it comes down to blitz, she has been a world No.2 before. I think Humpy could have better chances in rapid and blitz. Divya will have to play very carefully because of Humpy's judgement that tends to put her in better positions around the 10-minute mark,' GM Pravin Thipsay told HT. Divya, however, has also shown good form in the rapid format in this tournament. She won both her rapid matches against GM Harika Dronavalli to enter the semi-final. The key for the teen, according to Thipsay, lies in the positions she can get into when the clock runs down to the final 2-3 minutes of the games. 'If it's passive, she will find it difficult to defend. If she has the initiative, she can win. If things come down to less than one minute or so, Divya's speedy calculations can help her,' said Thipsay. While Humpy has been a picture of calm so far in this all-Indian title clash, Divya has had her up-and-down moments. Speaking about it 24 hours later, she would still rue that missed opportunity in the first game, when she could've really pushed for a victory from a 'closing to winning position', as Thipsay put it, before an impulsive moment and a miscalculated move blew it away. For Divya, that draw stung. 'I was quite disappointed with the first game because I saw everything but ended up making the wrong choice. It was quite a pity. Even though it was a draw, it felt like a loss,' she told FIDE. To her credit, the 19-year-old recovered from that quickly and turned up just as composed and prepared with black to thwart any dangers. 'Divya has shown great maturity for her age. She's very professional in her approach, which is normally not seen in players of that age,' Thipsay said. She will need all of that professionalism and maturity for the decisive tie-breaks against her more accomplished opponent in the format. 'She's a really strong player, but I'm hoping things go my way,' Divya said. The tiebreaker will be held on July 28, Monday.
Hindustan Times
2 hours ago
- Hindustan Times
England vs Spain: UEFA Women's Euro 2025 prize money - How much prize money will winners take home
The UEFA Women's Euro 2025 final between England and Spain will take place in Basel, Switzerland's St. Jakob-Park on Sunday. Spain's defender #07 Olga Carmona (L) and England's forward #11 Lauren Hemp challenge for the ball during the UEFA Women's Euro 2025 final football match between England and Spain at the St. Jakob-Park Stadium in Basel, on July 27, 2025. (Photo by Miguel MEDINA / AFP)(AFP) The Lionesses lost 2-1 in Sydney in the 2023 Women's World Cup final, which is being replayed here. It also mimics the men's European Championship final from the previous year, in which Spain won 2-1. Sarina Wiegman's team is attempting to become just the second country in history to secure back-to-back Euros titles after making it to three consecutive major finals. They are viewed as the underdogs versus La Roja, who have grown to be a formidable force in the women's game. The winning team will also receive a sizable portion of a record-breaking amount of prize money this year. Also Read: US-owned Irish soccer club Drogheda barred from Conference League by UEFA ownership rules What we know about Women's Euro 2025 prize money The incredible €41 million prize money for this year's Women's Euros is five times greater than the €8 million awarded in 2017 and more than double the €16 million awarded in 2022. About 70% of the entire 2025 budget is allocated to the fixed €1.8 million participation fee for each team taking part in the event, which is three times the amount of money allocated in 2022. The final 30% goes toward rewards for performance, with teams getting €50,000 for a draw and €100,000 for a win in the group stages. As the knockout stages progress, the amounts rise incrementally, reaching €1.75 million for each finalist. The 2025 tournament's club benefits package broke the previous record, rising from €4.5 million in 2022 to €9 million in 2025, making it the biggest of its kind in women's football. How much will Euro 2025 winners take home? The final winners will have access to a maximum reward money of €5.1 million, more than twice the €2 million jackpot that was potentially awarded in 2022. If Spain wins the final on Sunday, they will receive this amount because they have won both of their elimination matches and all three of their group games. Given that they lost to France in their opening match, England would receive a little less.
Indian Express
2 hours ago
- Indian Express
Koneru Humpy and Divya Deshmukh play out a second classical draw. Now what to expect in the tiebreakers of World Cup final?
If the FIDE Women's World Cup 2025 wasn't already a physically exhausting and mentally draining tournament, it became all the more so on Sunday after Divya Deshmukh and Koneru Humpy took their all-Indian final clash into an extra day in Batumi, Georgia. The second classical game of their final ended in a draw, pushing the decider to a tiebreak on Monday. While the first leg was a tale of missed opportunities for Divya, the second leg saw a different approach from Humpy, who opted for a non-risky opening with White. She began with knight to f3 from the right flank, choosing a well-known English opening, sticking to her strength, which is positional chess, in the hope of grinding Divya down later in the game. The players quickly exchanged all minor pieces, except for Humpy's dark-squared bishop, which she retained in exchange for Divya's knight, with queens still on the board for counterplay. GM Pravin Thipsay analysed Humpy's opening choice: 'It was expected that Humpy would try to press for an advantage, and that's what happened. She began with the English opening but eventually transposed into the regular Queen's Gambit Declined, the Semitarash variation,' Thipsay told The Indian Express. Explaining Humpy's middle-game strategy, Thipsay added: 'I expected her to play for a better pawn structure, as she excels at exploiting weaknesses. But on move 9, she had a choice between a bishop-over-knight advantage or a superior pawn structure and she opted for the former. In my opinion, a pawn structure advantage would have suited her better.' By the 22nd move, the players entered an endgame with equal pawns, though Humpy sought an edge with her active bishop, placing it on long diagonals. She even sacrificed a central pawn to keep the position sharp and pressure Divya into an error. 'Divya exchanged one of Humpy's knights for a bishop on move 9, and on the 12th move, she gave up her second bishop for a knight, leading to a complex but roughly equal position in a symmetrical pawn structure,' said Thipsay. 'Double bishops are generally better than double knights, but this was a semi-open position with central pawns. I've played this structure many times, and the advantage isn't significant. Divya correctly exchanged rooks, and by the 20th move, a draw seemed inevitable.' 'But Humpy took bold decisions,' he added. 'She sacrificed a pawn on move 23, putting Divya in a tricky spot. Divya missed the best 24th move, which would have forced a draw. After that, Humpy had chances, especially on move 28, where she could have regained the pawn with some advantage.' However, Humpy allowed Divya's position to improve before regaining her pawn, by which point she also forced Divya to end the game by perpetual checks. In the all-Chinese battle for third place, Tan Zhongyi prevailed over top seed Lei Tingjie, clinching her spot in the 2026 Candidates Tournament. Though both players are drained after nearly a month of relentless chess, one can still expect a high-octane tiebreak clash, with neither player likely to back down until the very end. Humpy holds an edge in shorter time controls as a two-time and reigning World Rapid Champion. However, the odds aren't entirely skewed as Divya has never lost to her in Rapid chess. In their two recorded rapid encounters, Divya has one win and one draw. Things will change though, if the tiebreak heads to the Blitz round, the gulf between the two players widens. Humpy, the 2022 World Blitz Championship runner-up, has dominated Divya in this format, winning four of their five blitz games. Five-time World Champion Viswanathan Anand analysed their strengths ahead of the tiebreak. He said, 'On paper, Humpy has better results, but Divya has more momentum. Humpy's wins have been shakier, but since the 2024 Olympiad (where Humpy didn't play) she's won the Women's World Rapid Championship, the Pune Grand Prix, and performed strongly at Norway Chess. Divya, though, must be relieved this tournament is finally here. Everyone's been waiting for her breakthrough, and both seem pleased with how things are unfolding,' Anand said on ChessBase India YouTube stream. This will be Humpy's second Candidates appearance in a row after her second-place finish in 2023. 'It's a great result (two Indians in the World Cup final), but what I like is this twin thing that on the one hand, we have Harika and Humpy as two veterans of the game but on the other hand, the last Candidates was Vaishali and now we're guaranteed a spot for Humpy and Divya so I like this combination of one youngster and one of the veterans,' Anand remarked. Praising India's first female Grandmaster, he added, 'What Humpy is doing is incredible. I feel bad calling her a veteran, but this is amazing stuff. She has come from a break, so her ability to relaunch herself, so to speak and even she's specialising in the faster format, she's doing quite well there. If you look at her openings, it's all current. In that sense, she shows that not only she's able to play but she's also fully in touch with all the current developments in chess.'
