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The Guardian
10-07-2025
- Sport
- The Guardian
Andy Farrell's five key selection posers for first British & Irish Lions Test
The Lions have barely had a second for reflection lately. Is it Thursday in Canberra or Friday in Adelaide? Either way, there is another game just around the corner. With scant time for proper training, the management have been relying on players sticking their hands up on matchdays but no one, as yet, has nailed down the No 7 jersey. This matters because the Wallabies will be strong at the breakdown and possess an array of jackal threats. If Toulouse's Jack Willis were here the conversation might be different but there is probably one starting spot to be contested between Josh van der Flier, Jac Morgan, Tom Curry and Henry Pollock. Curry had the chance to stake an unanswerable claim against the Brumbies but, in common with many others, had a tricky evening. The other three are all involved against the Australia-New Zealand Invitational XV this weekend and there remains much to play for. The management clearly like the game-breaking ability that Pollock can offer and Morgan, despite not being the biggest of men, can be a real nuisance. Curry's work-rate will be hard to overlook unless Andy Farrell, in his quest for cohesion, simply reverts to his trusted Irish lieutenants and starts Van der Flier. They appreciate a Big Red in Australia, whether it be kangaroos or a decent shiraz. And the flame-haired Ollie Chessum is already making an impact down under. He has been as consistently good as almost any of the Lions forwards, to the point where it will now be a major surprise if he does not feature in the Test 23. The question is what role he should fill. The back-row balance did not look entirely right against the Brumbies and there is only one tour game left in which to fiddle around with the blend. Tadhg Beirne has played a lot of rugby this season but is he still at his sharpest? Or could the Lions conceivably go for all-out mobility and start both Beirne and Chessum in the same starting XV for the first time on this tour? Beirne, interestingly, is back in the second row this weekend but picking him there for the first Test would mean omitting big Joe cCarthy. If Beirne has a colossal game this weekend, though, it will give the whole debate a vigorous stir. Before the tour this was widely seen as Sione Tuipulotu's shirt to lose. But the Scotland captain has been injured and is still shaking off a touch of ring rust. Bundee Aki, on the other hand, offers a powerful simplicity at 12 that gives Finn Russell the option of using him as either a compelling decoy or a straight-up carrier. Teams may think they know what Aki is going to do but stopping him from five metres out remains easier said than done. In theory that simplifies the equation for Tuipulotu against a physical-looking combined Au-NZ Invitational XV: crank things up or accept a Test place may have to be delayed. But what about Owen Farrell? Who would the Lions want coming off the bench in a pressure-laden Test match if, heaven forbid, Russell or even Aki were to go down early on? If Farrell Jr goes well in Adelaide, his ability to operate at both 10 and 12 makes him a genuine option for the matchday 23. Sign up to The Breakdown The latest rugby union news and analysis, plus all the week's action reviewed after newsletter promotion The selection at 12 has wider ramifications. If Aki starts, the temptation to pair him with his Ireland teammate Garry Ringrose clearly increases. Ringrose is a strong defender and may well be seen as the man to defuse the obvious threat of the Wallabies' emerging star Joseph Aukuso Sua'ali'i. The Irishman is in form, too, having scored tries in Perth, Brisbane and Canberra already on this tour. That may mean Huw Jones will have to be patient unless he rips it up in Adelaide and shows he can offer another dimension to the Lions' attacking effectiveness in the wider channels. Again it also boils down to the collective blend: if the Lions back three is also going to be predominantly Irish it makes Ringrose the safer, more logical pick. The moment Blair Kinghorn whacked the pitch with his hand in frustration after being injured against the Brumbies it felt ominous for the Lions. Sure enough Ireland's versatile Jamie Osborne has been summoned as cover and Farrell will have to find another full-back for next week's first Test. The situation is complicated by the fact Hugo Keenan has played only once on tour prior to this weekend because of illness. He is also a different kind of player to Kinghorn and a less obvious bench option. So what does Farrell do? Stick with the devil he knows or roll the dice? One option could be to shift his favourite player Mack Hansen to full-back. That would permit him to start both Hansen and Tommy Freeman in Brisbane, with James Lowe's raking left boot also in the back-three mix. Marcus Smith might disagree but, right now, it would be a huge call to select the Harlequin as a starting Lions Test 15.
Telegraph
01-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Telegraph
Blair Kinghorn jets into Lions camp after Top 14 party… only to wake up the captain
The hangover from Toulouse's Top 14 title win had just about subsided by the time that Blair Kinghorn arrived at the Lions base in Brisbane at 11.45pm on Monday night. It did not help that Toulouse's epic 39-33 victory over Bordeaux Begles had gone to extra time after which the Scotland full-back performed his media commitments at the Stade de France in a pair of budgie smugglers as well as sharing a kiss with Jack Willis. By the time that the team got back to their Paris hotel it had gone 3am. And that's when the party actually started with the team dignitaries and players' families. Kinghorn does not confirm at what time his head hit a pillow or whether his eyes actually shut – 'confidential' he laughs – but at midday on the Sunday he was making his way to the airport to join Andy Farrell's squad Down Under via a changeover in Dubai. By the time he reached the Lions hotel, he had resolved that he was going to make the best possible impression – only to immediately wake up captain Maro Itoje. 'I was thinking 'surely there won't be anyone in the room'.' Kinghorn said. 'I go in, chuck the bags down and up he pops. I was like 'uh, sorry'. He'd been sleeping and I woke him up. It was funny, he woke up, shook my hand and went straight back to sleep. 'To come away and win it [the Top 14 title] was unbelievable. And then straight on a plane here. It's good to finally be here and it feels a bit more real for me now, which is good because getting announced in the squad and then not having the chance to meet up with the boys doesn't make it feel… not real, but now that I'm actually here, I've got all the kit, I'm with the boys, it feels real.' The Lions are something of a curiosity to many of Kinghorn's Toulouse's teammates who were able to carry on celebrating the club's third consecutive Bouclier de Brennus, long after he had departed. 'A few of the boys who are rugby mad understand how big it is but a lot of them, they understand what it is, but they probably don't understand how much it means,' Kinghorn said. 'It's just different. Like in the UK, you grow up as a rugby player and that's the pinnacle of your career whereas it is a bit different in Ramos, he's dead keen. He watches all the games. Josh Brennan, he is French but he is Irish, [former Ireland forward] Trevor's son, so he obviously understands it. The boys know how big it is and how much it means, they were buzzing for me. It is cool.' Lions chief executive Ben Calveley has left open the possibility of touring France in future and although huge logistical challenges would need to be resolved, Kinghorn is convinced the public would lap it up. 'That'd be interesting,' Kinghorn said. 'Well there would be no jetlag for starters. It would be pretty cool. I don't know how happy the French clubs would be though because the Top 14 season is so gruelling and so long. But they [the public] would love it. It would be awesome.' With jet lag now playing merry hell with Kinghorn's bodyclock, it is no wonder that everything appears a bit of a blur. 'I think I've got everything,' Kinghorn said. 'All you need is your boots and your passport, so that's fine.' The last member of Farrell's original touring party to arrive, Kinghorn faces some significant catch-up as he is likely to start against the New South Wales Waratahs in Sydney on Saturday in the Lions' fourth game of the tour. Elliot Daly has already staked a major claim at full-back while Ireland's Hugo Keenan gets his opportunity in the No 15 shirt against the Queensland Reds on Wednesday. However, given that he is jostling with the likes of Thomas Ramos, Ange Capuozzo, Juan Cruz Mallía and Matthis Lebel for back-three places at Toulouse, he is undaunted by the level of competition he is facing at the Lions. 'Everyone's here to do their best and to win the Test series and have a successful tour,' Kinghorn said. 'Every training session is going to be competitive. Everyone's motivated and that's what you want. That brings the best out of people. 'At Toulouse, the squad is so deep and so talented that you've got to be on top of your got to come into training every day and try hard and work hard. Coaches are on your back the whole time, which is great. It's high pressure, but it makes you thrive. Having great players around you, great coaches around you, does make you a better player. The way that Toulouse see the game is similar to the way that I like to play the game, so I feel like it's matched up nicely there. But like I say, the competition for places, your consistency of training, that's probably what's changed. High pressure.'
BBC News
30-06-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
Kinghorn en route and on a high
"We've got to celebrate tonight, have a few quiet beers," Scotland's Lions-bound full-back Blair Kinghorn told the Times after Toulouse's dramatic 39-33 victory over Bordeaux-Begles in the Top 14 final on Saturday night., externalKinghorn apparently rearranged his flight, originally scheduled to leave Paris for Australia on Sunday morning, for a few hours later, to ensure that those quiet beers weren't rushed at celebrations of their third straight title, after losing to Bordeaux-Begles three times earlier in the season, certainly looked like they were worth sticking around Willis, who is outside of England eligibility in the south of France, had another big game on the big stage, scoring two tries at the Stade de France.
Irish Daily Mirror
29-06-2025
- Sport
- Irish Daily Mirror
Lions - Jack Willis is sensational for Toulouse in Top 14 final win
Jack Willis was in outstanding form for Toulouse who beat Bordeaux 39-33 after extra-time in the Top 14 final. Thomas Ramos kicked two penalties in the added time to seal the win but Willis, starting in the Toulouse back-row was superb, scoring two of Toulouse's four tries. This is a player, excluded from the original Lions squad selection, who has started 25 of the 27 games he has played for Toulouse this season - and he has bagged 10 tries in the was at no7 for last weekend's game at Stade de France but had started half-a-dozen games at no6 and played twice at no8 is not in the current England set-up because they have decided, as part of a general policy, not to pick players who are based at foreign clubs. His last cap came in March 2023 when, indeed, he was at Toulouse but this was considered an exceptional circumstance as he had moved there following the collapse of his English club, having not returned to play in England at the beginning of the following season, he has been excluded from their international set-up since. Blair Kinghorn, who also plays for Toulouse, is a Scotland international regular and started at left-wing against Bordeaux - moving to full-back when Romain N'tamack got injured and Ramos moved to out-half - and has no such international bar on him from the hasn't an easy decision to make with regard to Willis. Selecting the exile might not be popular with the English Rugby Union - thought to be Farrell's next employers after then he has been shown as a man of his own mettle before and a lot will rest on how he viewed the collective Lions back-row performances to games in, Ben Earls, Jac Morgan and Tom Curry had have nightmares against Argentina and Tadhg Beirne, switched from second-row to back-row, didn't show too well against the same time there has to be satisfaction that 20 year-old Henry Pollock who was asked to play the executive role at no8 for the Lions against Force was within touching distance of Man of the Match.A practical neophyte who, according to the textbook, is 'supposed' to trade at this level by filling in at no6 for a sustained Kaboom!Pollock made 13 carries for 74 metres, two clean breaks beating four defenders, 17 tackles with just one miss and posted a try-assist. Only Joe McCarthy made more carries, only the back-three made more metres, only James Lowe equalled his clean break/defenders beaten tally, only Josh van der Flier beat his tackle count. This from a player who wasn't even in the England matchday squad for the 2025 Six Nations game here in fact, he was with the England U20 squad for Rounds 1&2 of the U20 Six Nations and, called into the senior squad, came on as a sub against Wales in the last of their Six Nations no7 for England U20s against Ireland U20 at Virgin Media Musgrave Park last January 30, he was instrumental in the English win, the scoreline finishing Foy (Munster), Bobby Power (Connacht) and Eanna McCarthy (Connacht) started in the Ireland back-row that night, Oisin Minogue (Munster) came in as a 65th minute sub for Power - none of that quartet have even been in a matchday squad at their was also a second bright performance last Saturday in Perth from Josh van der Flier, his first-quarter tackling and covering was sensational and just outstanding thereafter. He made a staggering 18 tackles in the first 55 minutes. Jack Conan came in as a sub late in the game which means he has yet to make a 2025 start for the Lions albeit he is expected to be named at no8 to face Queensland Reds on Wednesday picture still remains unclear as to whether Hugo Keenan will be fit and it is unlikely Blair Kinghorn will be considered having played alongside Willis for Toulouse in the Top 14 final. Bundee Aki and Huw Jones are the likely centre combination, it is hoped Gibson-Park will be fit for scrum-half, with the likelihood Ellis Genge, Luke Cowan, Will Stuart will comprise the front-row, James Ryan gain a spot in the second-row and with Conan at no8. The selection of the openside and blindside flankers will be revealing.
Times
29-06-2025
- Sport
- Times
Blair Kinghorn joins up with Lions as French champion after Top 14 triumph
It is past 1am and Blair Kinghorn is inside Stade de France holding a beer, wearing budgy-smugglers, and 14 hours away from joining the British and Irish Lions. After 100 minutes of intoxicating rugby, he will at last arrive in Australia as a champion of France — again. That is three successive Bouclier de Brennus glories for Toulouse, unprecedented in the Top 14 era and the best sequence since their own quadruple between 1994 and 1997. Titanic in all three was another anglophone talent, and a high-profile Lions omission: the ferocious Jack Willis. A hectic Sunday awaits Kinghorn. The 28-year-old Scotsman was meant to fly to Australia from Paris at about 9am but pushed it back six hours. 'We've got to celebrate tonight, have a few quiet beers,' he says at the end of a day that he began watching the first half of the Lions' 54-7 win over Western Force.
