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Irish Examiner
08-07-2025
- Climate
- Irish Examiner
Johnny Sexton hoping history doesn't repeat itself when the Lions meet the Brumbies
Johnny Sexton remembers with clarity the last time he was in Canberra and he does not want a repeat of his 2013 experience when the British & Irish Lions meet the Brumbies in a rematch a dozen years later at GIO Stadium on Wednesday. Sexton was a non-playing member of Warren Gatland's squad that night, watching on four days out from the opening Test against Australia as the Brumbies knocked the tourists over for a famous 14-12 victory that lives long in the memory of the locals here in the capital city. Sexton, now a Lions assistant coach, recalled that game on the eve of this rematch during a pitchside media briefing as he called for the 2025 Lions to put their best foot forward against this season's Super Rugby Pacific semi-finalists, in potentially the most challenging of tour matches against the best of the Australian quartet of franchises. 'It's as cold as it was,' Sexton said. 'I remember it was even colder on the night of the the game. I sat up there with my jacket and hat on and scarf and every layer of clothes I had. 'It was a tough game that night. We had a lot of disruption with a lot of new players coming in. I think we brought maybe five guys in fresh into the team. There wasn't a lack of effort but we couldn't get a performance out there that warranted a victory.' With head coach Andy Farrell having named his strongest team of the tour so far, there will be no such excuses for the 2025 Lions if history repeats itself and this fixture goes awry once more but Sexton believes the tourists are better prepared this time around and in better shape for their less than convincing victory last Saturday over the Waratahs in Sydney. Asked about what the match-specific factors to consider on Wednesday, he said: 'Definitely the climate. We know it's going to be dewy with a greasy ball. We didn't think it would be like that in Sydney. "It had been bone dry in the few days we were there but the pitch was very wet. So they had a tactic to come and disrupt probably prepared us really well for this week. 'In some ways they did us a favour. It's about us realising there'll be a greasy ball and how the Brumbies play with a good bit of line speed to try and make things as hard as they can for us. 'They're a very good team, probably the best Australian franchise. They've out in a lot of good performances against us in the past and we expect another one.' The Brumbies will be missing eight of their Wallabies, including the now injured first-choice fly-half Noah Lolesio, injured in last weekend's hard-fought Test victory over Fiji. Joe Schmidt has released one international back to Stephen Larkham's squad, the back-rower Tom Hooper, offering up the chance of a pair of brothers facing the Lions. Tom, 24, came off the bench against Fiji but is good to go after just 12 minutes of gametime in Newcastle while his brother Lachie, 21, is on the bench and standing by for his Brumbies debut. Head coach Larkham had been an assistant coach to Jake White when the Brumbies became the first Australian province team to beat the Lions for more than 40 years in 2013 but he is expecting a difficult evening in chilly, dewy Canberra this time around. 'We're against a world-class team in the British & Irish Lions, who tour our country only every 12 years. They'll be chomping at the bit to contribute positively to the team. 'The boys have been back in training for a couple of weeks and they are aware of how big an opportunity this is for them to take on the Lions. We're under no illusions of the challenge that lies ahead, they are an incredibly strong and powerful side.' The Lions will need to flex their muscles and live up to that billing if this fixture is to be considered a success, just 10 days out from the first Test against the Wallabies. There is only one tour match remaining after that, against a combined Australia/New Zealand Invitational XV in Adelaide this Saturday, and after three wins of varying efficiency since arriving Down Under, the tourists need to start making every minute count if they are to roll into the Test series with momentum. BRUMBIES: A Muirhead; B O'Donnell, O Sapsford, D Feliuai, C Toole; D Meredith, R Lonergan – captain; L Ieli, L Lonergan, R van Nek; L Shaw, C Neville; T Hooper, R Scott, T Taii Tualima. Replacements: L Bowron, C Orr, F Fotuaika, L Hooper, L Reimer, H Goddard, J Debreczini, H Creighton. BRITISH & IRISH LIONS: B Kinghorn; T Freeman, G Ringrose, B Aki, J Lowe; F Russell, J Gibson-Park; E Genge, D Sheehan, T Furlong; M Itoje – captain, J McCarthy; O Chessum, T Curry, J Conan. Replacements: R Kelleher, A Porter, W Stuart, J van der Flier, H Pollock, A Mitchell, M Smith, M Hansen. Referee: Pierre Brousset (France).
Wales Online
20-06-2025
- Sport
- Wales Online
Andy Farrell slams 'unacceptable' Lions players in live TV interview
Andy Farrell slams 'unacceptable' Lions players in live TV interview The 2025 Lions started with a disappointing 28-24 defeat to Argentina, who were without a number of top players Lions head coach Andy Farrell (Image: PA Wire ) British and Irish Lions head coach Andy Farrell says he takes responsibility for the Lions' surprise loss to Argentina in their opening match but claimed some of what he saw was unacceptable. The famous side went down 28-24 in Dublin as a series of crucial handling errors and missed tackles saw the Pumas take full advantage and pull off an historic win. The game wasn't without positives for the Lions but they looked like a side that has never played together before. Sign up to Inside Welsh rugby on Substack to get exclusive news stories and insight from behind the scenes in Welsh rugby. Trailing 21-10 at the interval, Farrell's men went on to produce their most effective rugby but they could not break stubborn opponents ranked fifth in the world in front of a sold-out Aviva Stadium. A penalty try and Tadhg Beirne touchdown created a path to victory but Argentina's ruthless counter-attacking swept Santiago Cordero in for the match-winning in the 59th minute. The Lions were behind at the break (Image: 2025 Getty Images ) Article continues below It is the Pumas' only success in the rivals' eight meetings and the first time the Lions have lost their tour opener since 1971. The Lions showed a willingness to attack in a promising sign ahead of their arrival Down Under, but their accuracy failed to match their ambition and they were often guilty of overplaying. Ignacio Mendy of Argentina scores a try under pressure from Tommy Freeman (Image: 2025 Getty Images ) Speaking to Sky Sports in a live TV interview, Farrell said: "It was a show from Argentina. Congrats, they deserved the win and capitalised on all the errors we made. "There is a lot to do. You can't win a Test with that error rate. We lost enough balls in that game for a full tour, throwing balls that weren't on. "But it wasn't just that. The aerial battle and the scraps on the floor, they were hungrier than us and that is just not acceptable. Article continues below "I'm disappointed. We need to be honest with ourselves and take the learnings from that. If we take the learnings from that at least we will stand for something. "There was good and bad throughout. We were just a little bit off, I take responsibility for that. "I hope we are better off for that. We will keep building for the Test matches."
Irish Daily Mirror
13-06-2025
- Sport
- Irish Daily Mirror
Leinster are one win from glory, one loss from the sky falling on their head
Leinster are in the dock at Croke Park, on the northside too, standing accused of not being able to lift that having repeatedly got on-site during four Champions Cup and three URC raids they emerged empty-handed, without any of the silverware or gold medals on offer. Leinster, the club, may have seven of the 10 letters in the word larcenists but, damningly, none of the sticky fingers associated. Welcome to the 2025 URC Grand Final where if Leinster come up empty-handed again, there will be blood on the coaches' dance floor and somebody - either the most successful club coach in Irish history or a double-RWC winning one - will be job-hunting. This is, remember, a club with a dozen 2025 Lions and, notwithstanding Caelan Doris, Will Connors, Robbie Henshaw being injured and ex-Lion Cian Healy retiring, have another dozen players on the Ireland summer are bolstered by a close to €1m package funding All Black Jordie Barrett, double-Rugby World Cup winner RG Snyman and French propping legend Rabah Slimani.A Leinster who may catch all the plaudits, be greatly admired and much feted from near and far, do well off their budget when it is compared to Top 14 clubs and have a wonderful, working, pathway/Academy who, come the pointy end of the season, have repeatedly dropped the ball in semi-finals and finals. It's a mystery. Call Hercule Poirot even if he is Belgian, phone Humphrey Bogart's private eye Philip Marlow, or send for Sherlock Holmes or, how about, his now much-feted teenage sister Enola Holmes if you like and ask them to ask what they make of the puzzle. A good place fore them to start maybe wondering whether Leinster are suffering from being 'Club Ireland'. There is little disguising the Leinster collective having morphed into the Ireland World Cup/Six Nations team with former Leinster Academy man Tadhg Beirne and three southern hemisphere products operating out of Connacht in Bundee Aki, Mack Hansen and Finlay Bealham tagged this translates to, intentionally or not, their seeing club rugby as a way of getting fit and peaking for international rugby then God only knows how they are mentally juggling Leinster-Ireland-Lions. The sheer joy of the Northampton players when they defeated Leinster in the recent Champions Cup semi-final carried over into the after-match proceedings - they were verily bouncing off the walls. A joy rarely seen from Leinster wins these days, there seems to be an auto-pilot in the mix. Whether they celebrate Leinster wins the way they celebrate Ireland wins is worth asking. Leinster assistant coach Jacques Nienaber is the most celebrated Defence Coach in the world. He was Rassie Erasmus's second-in-command for the 'Boks RWC 2019 win and Head Coach for the 'Boks RWC 2023 famously once said his coaching system would take 14 games to bed-in but this was at the start of last if you believe there is no such thing as a 'good' missed tackle or if, being less didactic, believe there is a problem with repeated missed tackles and that there is a certain amount required to be made in each game, then don't get into an argument with Nienaber. Leinster's three quarter-line for this evening's game has Tommy O'Brien who makes 58 percent of his tackles, Ringrose 51 per cent, Barrett 74 percent and James Lowe's 40 percent. This evening's full-back Jimmy O'Brien has a 79 percent tackle completion rate and he may be needed not least as the much criticised defensively Sam Prendergast brings a 50 percent completion rate to the party (Ross Byrne's is 88 percent!).There is a potential explanation of the Northampton loss in there. The Saints had a winger score a hat-trick, a flanker going blind-side and skating past the tackles. 37 points is a helluva lots of points to concede, to have to overhaul in a knockout game. At the same time apologies, that's a negative interpretation as to how rugby should be is a 2025 Lion, the best attacking no13 in Europe if not the world and he will be playing outside the best no12 in the attacking threat is ever-present, not least for his ability to keep the ball alive with inventive, clever offloads and his auxiliary kicking is a feature while Prendergast has a prodigious eye for a set of bigger-picture figures that have to be balanced, weighed up with, say, missing every second or third they are figures suggest that firstly Leinster are flat-track bullies, certainly against the bottom six/seven/eight URC outfits. And secondly, given their quality players can hold onto the ball, that they are very difficult to overhaul once they are this: The IRFU allowed a failed Ireland RWC 2019 to be glossed over when their official report blamed 'Performance Anxiety' - possibly the most infantile concept since nappies. Professional sportsmen are paid to 'perform' and on the back of those performances are in a salary meritocracy. Perform well, get more money, get picked again. How did the Performance Anxiety XV get to the top of the log in the first place?But if there is such a thing as Performance Anxiety, Leinster must have it not so much inadvertently picked as a virus but from the idea of it actually existing. Once you convince yourself it exists, it is too handy a crutch, an easy explanation. A little more practical self-scrutiny might help. Memo to Leinster committee in advent of losing this final, buy the players mirrors for Christmas so they can look at themselves in it. Because, make no mistake, repeated failure to win a tournament is building and building and contrary to accepted common sense. The players are not bad players, the collective have gotten it right most of the time and are able to get themselves into position to win a result the spotlight is turning more and more on coach Leo Cullen and assistant there something fundamentally wrong, not so much with selection based on empirical evidence that the player should have the jersey, but a flawed understanding of their individual make-ups in pressure is, for instance, under IRFU/Andy Farrell instruction that, once both are fit, to pick James Ryan and Joe McCarthy ahead of Snyman; he has more leeway with Barrett but still had to fill a quota for the Henshaw-Ringrose pairing. Moreover Cullen was told that the onus was on him to pick Prendergast this season, to bring him on with Ireland in mind, have him ready for the November series and first-choice by the Six is unlikely Cullen could have jettisoned Prendergast for the final had he wanted to but it is telling Ross Byrne is on the bench in a five-three split and not Ciaran Frawley or Jamie Osborne in a has the option to withdraw Prendergast if he wishes; if this isn't going well in the first-half, it will be a measure of this current management's decisiveness as to when they start to change the as it mightn't need Poirot, Marlow, Sherlock and Enola to detect, that really would be the point where the sky was falling on their that's a bit panicky, premature, apologies as Leinster take the field as massive favourites to win a game against a Bulls side who are an extremely blunt instrument and have very little matching the skill-levels and experience the Blues possess. Leinster can be backed at 1/5 - and most likely can only defeat themselves. Performance Anxiety, you ol' ambusher...
Irish Daily Mirror
05-05-2025
- Sport
- Irish Daily Mirror
Caelan Doris emerges as a massive doubt for Lions tour
Caelan Doris is a major doubt for the 2025 Lions Tour following sustaining a shoulder injury in the European Champions Cup semi-final defeat to Northampton last Saturday. The Ireland captain played down his shoulder injury when talking in the immediate aftermath of the game. But fears as to the extent of the injury were heightened yesterday as it was revealed he had been sent for scans. Doris was considered slight favourite to be 2025 Lions captain, ahead of Maro Itoje, Sione Tuipulotu with Jamie George considered a long outsider. But will be in a significant race against time as Leinster have just two URC league-proper games left and with the further potential for three further knockout games. Said Jacques Nienaber at Leinster training today: "Since I have been at Leinster, I don't think Caelan has ever ever left the field with an injury, replaced and subbed yes. "He is a hard man generally, so that's not good. He saw a specialist and they are doing a procedure on it this week. "Fingers crossed they go in and there is not too much structural damage. My official knowledge is a little bit woozy but if there isn't structural damage, maybe four to six weeks. "If there is it could go up to anything as big as six months." Added Josh van der Flier of playing without Doris for the last quarter: "Caelan had a few big carries, that was a very impressive 50/22 just after his try. "It is obviously not ideal having Caelan coming off, he is probably the best player in Ireland at the moment. "The calmness he brings is brilliant but I have found in the past in situations like that, as a team we have always remained calm, even when we got into huddles, I felt we were calm. "We have been in loads of positions in games where I've had to play on the wing, throw in the ball, other players have had to adapt. "I don't think losing Caelan's (leadership) flustered us too much at the time." Get the latest sports headlines straight to your inbox by signing up for free email.
