logo
Queensland Reds v Lions preview, teams and how to follow

Queensland Reds v Lions preview, teams and how to follow

BBC News11 hours ago
Queensland Reds v British and Irish LionsDate: Wednesday, 2 July Venue: Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane Time: 11:00 BSTCoverage: Live text commentary on the BBC Sport website and mobile app.
The British and Irish Lions will seek to build on their convincing win over Western Force when they play Queensland Reds in their second tour match in Australia on Wednesday.The Lions cruised to an eight-try 54-7 victory in Perth on Saturday but Wednesday's game is expected to be much tougher.The tourists will then play three more matches before the opening Test against the Wallabies in Brisbane on 19 July.From Queensland Reds' form, to team news and how to follow the game on BBC Sport - here's all you need to know.
Where is the match being played?
Wednesday's match will take place at the 52,500-capacity Suncorp Stadium - the venue for the first Test on 19 July, as it was in the Lions' triumphant 2013 series.Like every Lions match in Australia, the game will kick off at 11:00 BST (20:00 local time).The Lions edged out the Reds 22-12 when the teams met during the 2013 tour with Owen Farrell kicking 17 points and Ben Youngs scoring the side's only try in a physical contest.The Reds will seek to emulate the class of 1971 who beat the Lions 15-11 in the opening match of that tour.
How can I follow the game on BBC Sport?
You can follow live text commentary on the BBC Sport website and app, with build-up starting from 10:00 BST. There will also be post-match reaction and analysis online and via Radio 5 Live and the Rugby Union Weekly podcast, which is now producing daily episodes.Make sure to follow BBC Sport's dedicated British and Irish Lions page for updates from our reporters in Australia.The game is being shown live on Sky Sports.
Queensland Reds' recent form
The Reds won eight and lost six matches to finish fifth in the Super Rugby Pacific standings.They beat Western Force 28-24 in both their matches and were the second-best Australian team in the league after ACT Brumbies, who finished in third place.The Reds' league season ended on 6 June when they lost 32-12 to eventual champions Crusaders in the play-offs.Les Kiss' side thrashed a young Bristol team 82-21 before overcoming Ulster 38-31 during a pre-season tour of the northern hemisphere.
British & Irish Lions team news
Head coach Andy Farrell has made 14 changes to his starting line-up, with fly-half Finn Russell the only player to keep his place.Maro Itoje returns to captain the Lions after sitting out the match against Western Force.Ireland's Hugo Keenan and Jamison Gibson-Park make their first appearances on tour at full-back and scrum-half. Gibson-Park steps in for Tomos Williams, who is now out of the squad through injury.
Who is in Western Force's team?
The Queensland Reds team includes nine Australian internationals and two former All Blacks as they seek to cause an upset.However, six Wallabies, including flanker Fraser McReight, scrum-half Tate McDermott and fly-half Tom Lynagh, are missing as they are being held back for Australia's Test match against Fiji on Sunday.The pack has been strengthened by the arrival of prop Aidan Ross, who signed for the Reds after playing for the Waikato Chiefs in the Super Rugby final.Ross, who played a Test for the All Blacks in 2022, will form a front row with Wallaby hooker Matt Faessler and former New Zealand prop Jeffery Toomaga-Allen."We have to be very good at the breakdown and aerially," said Kiss, who is set to take over from Joe Schmidt as head coach of Australia next year."They've shown their attacking side too. We have to meet those challenges but we'll put our brand of rugby out there as well. "We'll keep backing ourselves. Why can't we put our best foot forward, rip in and see what happens? This is a great opportunity for our Reds players."
Line-ups
Queensland Reds: Campbell (capt); Anderson, Flook, Paisami, Ryan; McLaughlin-Phillips, Thomas; Ross, Faessler, Toomaga-Allen, Canham, Salakaia-Loto, Uru, Bryant, Brial.Replacements: Nasser, Blake, Fa'agase, Smith, Blyth, Vest, Werchon, HenryBritish and Irish Lions: Keenan; Freeman, Jones, Aki, Van der Merwe; Russell, Gibson-Park; Porter, Kelleher, Stuart, Itoje (capt), Chessum, Curry, Morgan, ConanReplacements: Cowan-Dickie, Genge, Bealham, Ryan, Earl, Mitchell, F Smith, Ringrose
Who are the match officials?
Referee: James Doleman (New Zealand)Assistant Referee 1: Paul Williams (New Zealand)Assistant Referee 2: Ben O'Keeffe (New Zealand)TMO: Glenn Newman (New Zealand)Foul Play Review Officer (FPRO): Marius van der Westhuizen (South Africa)
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Sir Bill Beaumont demands end to rugby infighting
Sir Bill Beaumont demands end to rugby infighting

Telegraph

time30 minutes ago

  • Telegraph

Sir Bill Beaumont demands end to rugby infighting

'The results of the 2025 annual general meeting provided important clarity,' said Beaumont. 'Our members have once again spoken with consistency, rejecting the constitutional proposals advanced by the so-called Whole Game Union. 'This marks the third time in just over a year that their motions have been decisively defeated. Three times now, in open and democratic forums, the rugby community has made its view clear: the way forward lies through inclusive consultation, open dialogue, and carefully considered reform — not through unilateral or divisive constitutional change. 'As a membership organisation, the RFU values accountability and robust debate. But it is clear that this group lacks broad support, and, at times, their efforts appear driven by personal agendas rather than the best interests of rugby. These campaigns have risked deepening divisions when unity is needed most. 'One of the responsibilities the RFU has is to navigate the tensions between the professional and the community game, each bringing its own culture, expectations and definitions of success. This is not easy, but the union is making considerable progress at every level and it needs the game working together to help it continue down that path.' The Whole Game Union, fronted by Alistair Bow of Nottingham RFC and Paddy McAlpine of Chichester RFC and supported by a former RFU president in Jeff Blackett, believes that the RFU executive has put too much emphasis on the elite game and has criticised the decrease in funding to the Championship. Their proposals sought to grant more power to the RFU council and required a 66 per cent share of a members' vote to pass their reforms. However, all of the resolutions were roundly defeated, with none of them achieving more than 42 per cent and most achieving about 30 per cent. Sources indicated that almost 500 votes were cast at the AGM, including proxies, which was the highest in more than 20 years. At the AGM, the Whole Game Union challenged Sport England's stance that its proposed reforms would stop England from hosting international events such as World Cups. A motion was also passed to allow local refereeing societies to break away from the Rugby Football Referee Society, which coordinated attempts to remove Sweeney. The RFU believes that its ongoing governance and representation review will prove to be the best avenue towards modernising the union's governance structures. 'Differences of opinion are healthy but the tone and nature of recent debates, and the questionable motivation behind them, have risked deepening divisions in English rugby,' Beaumont added. 'It is time for that to end. The focus must return to the growth and sustainability of our sport at every level – from grass roots to elite – and to ensuring that every voice in the game is heard and respected. 'No one doubts that the game and its structures need modernising. We all want this to happen. The governance and representation review, now under way and already engaging hundreds across the rugby community, provides an excellent platform for that conversation. 'The group leading this will continue to work with anyone who wants to contribute constructively to that process so we can move forward together – not as factions or interest groups – but as one rugby family, committed to building a stronger, more united game for the future.'

Russell and Gibson-Park, the dream that is about to become a reality
Russell and Gibson-Park, the dream that is about to become a reality

BBC News

time40 minutes ago

  • BBC News

Russell and Gibson-Park, the dream that is about to become a reality

Queensland Reds v British and Irish LionsDate: Wednesday, 2 July Venue: Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane Time: 11:00 BSTCoverage: Live text commentary on the BBC Sport website and mobile app. In a stadium that has in its day danced to the tune of many different teams from many different sports - the Kangaroos and the Jillaroos, the Reds and the Roar, the Matildas, the Broncos and the Dolphins - it's the Lions that will fill the place on Wednesday in the site of a burial ground and then Lang Park sports stadium, named after a particularly fiery Presbyterian minister from Greenock in Renfrewshire, the Suncorp stands on some interesting terrain in the inner people say there's an elephant in the room in this place they're literally talking about an elephant. Carley, a circus animal, was a beloved performer on this land in the 1950s, so much so that they buried her here after the poor thing performed her last trick for the entertainment of the Queensland Reds - coached by Les Kiss who for six years was an assistant with Ireland and for another three was the director of rugby with Ulster - will be looking to do a different kind of of the preamble to the Lions' second game on Australian soil has, unsurprisingly, centred around the half-back partnership of Scotland's Finn Russell and Ireland's Jamison Gibson-Park, two players that serve as a constant reminder that rugby, though a playground for big beasts, can still be artistic and combination is one that will have people shifting forward in their seats with quickening pulses. Rugby is forever in danger of eating itself with its inexorable march towards grunt and aggression, but these two remind you of why you might have fallen in love with rugby in the first many have ever had their rugby heart stolen by a one-dimensional big banger. But Russell and Gibson-Park and their potential to thrill? That's different. They've never played together, but Wednesday is the night it happens and if it's all right then we're going to be seeing a whole lot more of it in the Saturdays to very different people - Russell gregarious and charismatic, Gibson-Park quiet and laidback - but they're one and the same when it comes to how the game should be played: fast and furious, off the cuff and are supposed to be loud and bossy, but Gibson-Park isn't either of those things. His Lions and Ireland coach Andy Farrell calls him horizontal, such is his unflappable speed of thought is electrifying, his accuracy when firing passes that are so on the money that they can eliminate two and three defenders in an instant is quick taps bamboozle defences, his support lines mess with their heads, his ability to scan a field and know in an instant where the space is is a large part of the reason why Ireland have been so consistent over so many years. He's a totem of that team - tiny but towering at the same said that there is only one Antoine Dupont, but that's not really true. There's one and three-quarters and the three-quarters is Gibson-Park. At his best, he's very much in the same conversation as the great now we get to see him play with Russell, the great conductor at 10, a figure of growing authority on the back of a confidence-boosting and trophy-laden season with double threat is what Lions' fans have wanted to see. Normally a coach wouldn't necessarily play his first-choice 10 on Saturday and Wednesday, but Farrell is making an exception in Brisbane because he, as much as anybody else, is mustard keen to see how these two will gel. Why wait? Just crack had a few training sessions but no game time together. Will the lack of familiarity get in the way or will it be chemistry from minute one? Intriguing. Race for Test places intensifies as Lions take next step The Lions Test jigsaw is still far from complete. The other day Farrell said they were only getting started in putting things together, but the reality is that come post-match against the Waratahs in Sydney on Saturday there'll only be two more games before Test week and only one of those - the Brumbies in Canberra - has the look of a telling early days but, equally, time is slipping away. It's the glorious contradiction of a Lions tour. If Hugo Keenan is to keep himself in the race at 15 - where the more versatile Elliot Daly and Blair Kinghorn are the main contenders - then he needs to send a message at the the wing, James Lowe and Mack Hansen look to be in the box seat, so Tommy Freeman needs to do something to change the picture again. Duhan van der Merwe is the other wing on Wednesday. He's not the work-rate type operator Farrell values so much, so he's got a lot to midfield has changed at every turn with Farrell exploring every option. It's Huw Jones and Bundee Aki on Wednesday. Potentially devastating in the first Test. Watching from the stand, Garry Ringrose and Sione Tuipulotu. Also potentially devastating. Some incredible talent is going to miss out when the big stuff swings say, the 2017 tour to New Zealand there are few moral certainties for the Test pack this time around. Back then, you had a set of mostly unchanging and hardcore forwards playing the big games - a front-row of Mako Vunipola, Jamie George and Tadhg Furlong, a mix of Alun Wyn Jones, George Kruis and Maro Itoje in the second row with Sean O'Brien, Taulupe Faletau and, when fit, Sam Warburton in the back isn't that kind of clarity now. Dan Sheehan is a shoo-in at hooker and Itoje is a certainty at lock. There are others who are ahead in their individual races, but they're nowhere near nailed-on like the class of is in no danger, but could do with a dominant performance on Wednesday. Seven of the pack of eight against the Reds have points to hosts should be better than the Force last weekend - fifth in Super Rugby compared to ninth - but they're still diminished. Hooker Matt Faessler and centre Hunter Paisami are the only two of eight Wallabies who have been released by Joe a shock so ground-shaking that it could wake lovely Carley from her slumber, the Lions will win. But how well will they win - and how intoxicating will that half-back partnership prove now that it is almost a reality rather than an exciting figment of the imagination? Questions, questions as the Lions drive on.

Farrell's five selection posers in big week for Lions hoping to make Test squad
Farrell's five selection posers in big week for Lions hoping to make Test squad

The Guardian

timean hour ago

  • The Guardian

Farrell's five selection posers in big week for Lions hoping to make Test squad

The British & Irish Lions have barely started their trek around Australia, but the all-important Test series is fast approaching. Some definitive selection calls will soon have to be made and this week's games, against the Queensland Reds in Brisbane on Wednesday and the New South Wales Waratahs in Sydney on Saturday, will be pivotal for certain individuals. The Breakdown takes a look at the five main areas of debate. Dan Sheehan, as expected, has emerged as the Lions' Test hooker in waiting. The moment he was asked to lead the side in Perth, taking over from the tour captain, Maro Itoje, it was a sure indicator of how highly Andy Farrell rates him. Ronan Kelleher and Luke Cowan-Dickie are probably contesting the bench spot; some consistent lineout darts from the former against the Reds on Saturday could go a long way towards securing it. At loosehead prop, this is also a big game for Andrew Porter if he intends to start ahead of Ellis Genge. The latter was in rip-snorting mode against Argentina and the Lions need powerful, unapologetic ball-carriers. Which leaves tighthead, still an area with a slight question hovering over it from Farrell's perspective. Everyone knows how good Tadhg Furlong can be; the question is whether the big man can now replicate his past heroics. Finlay Bealham, only on the tour because of Zander Fagerson's injury, took his chance against the Pumas but a commanding display by Will Stuart this week could yet help the Englishman book himself a starting role in the first Test back in Brisbane on 19 July. The lock conversation is fascinating. Itoje, as captain, is the first name on the Lions team-sheet but big Joe McCarthy had such a high-class game in Perth that it will be tough to leave him out of the first Test, particularly with the Wallabies primed to come hard early on. Some people thrive in the rarefied air of a Lions tours and the 24-year-old McCarthy – right down to his Aussie-style mullet – is relishing the opportunity. But if Itoje and McCarthy end up starting, that would probably require the Lions to consider a third lineout option at No 6, almost certainly Tadhg Beirne. There is just one snag. Beirne, by his absurdly high standards, has yet to show the absolute best of himself in his two games. Does Farrell back him to come good or slide him back into the second row at the in-form McCarthy's expense? The door remains fractionally open, consequently, for the combative Ollie Chessum if he has a barnstormer alongside Itoje against the Reds. Should Farrell opt for a 6-2 bench – and even if he doesn't – Chessum could easily be in the Test squad conversation. The blindside conundrum is further complicated by the presence of Tom Curry, the sort of relentless operator every coach loves to have. The Wallabies will have big Rob Valetini in that position and the Lions cannot afford to let him roam free. Should Beirne start at 6, though, that means deploying Curry either at 7 or 8 or else on the bench. Finding a slot at openside will be tricky given Josh van der Flier's timely return to form; the Irishman is experienced, reliable and showed up well in Perth. Then there is Henry Pollock: the reason Farrell likes the 20-year-old is that he brings pace and dynamism few others possess. The Reds game is massive, accordingly, for Jack Conan, who was probably the narrow frontrunner for the No 8 shirt (in the absence of Caelan Doris) when the squad was unveiled. Ben Earl has had limited opportunity to show the form that has made him an England regular. The most compelling option of the lot? What a shame Jack Willis – brilliant again for Toulouse in the Top 14 final – is not here. Sign up to The Breakdown The latest rugby union news and analysis, plus all the week's action reviewed after newsletter promotion The Test half-back pairing, barring injuries, is set to be Jamison Gibson-Park and Finn Russell, but the combination that will start outside them is less certain. On paper, Sione Tuipulotu would be the perfect foil for Russell at 12, but the Glasgow Warrior has not played much this year. Farrell has also mixed and matched, declining to use the all-Irish duo of Bundee Aki and Gary Ringrose or the Scottish combo of Tuipulotu and Huw Jones for the moment. The selection to watch, as a result, will be the side to face the Waratahs on Saturday; Farrell may well be tempted to trial his optimal backline against the Brumbies in Canberra the following Wednesday. If Aki and Ringrose are picked it could be good news for 'Huwipulotu' as the regular Scottish partnership has become known. Similarly it is easy to imagine Farrell being tempted to plump for two Ireland wingers who are used to dovetailing in a green jersey. James Lowe is such a smart footballer and helped to create a couple of stunning tries in Perth. Mack Hansen is a different type of player but his kick-chase ability and energy also make him an awkward opponent. Unless this week changes the narrative completely. Maybe the powerful Duhan van der Merwe will take the Reds to the cleaners? Perhaps Tommy Freeman will remind everyone of his aerial ability, a vital area against the Wallabies? Then there is the battle at full-back. Blair Kinghorn, last seen celebrating in his Toulouse budgie smugglers, has finally arrived and will almost certainly feature against the Waratahs. In his absence, Elliot Daly has not put a foot wrong and Hugo Keenan has plenty of credit in the Bank of Farrell. A Test back-three of Kinghorn, Lowe and Hansen – with Daly on the bench – would not be a surprise but nothing is set in stone. This is an extract taken from our weekly rugby union email, the Breakdown. To sign up, just visit this page and follow the instructions.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store