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Irish Daily Mirror
12 hours ago
- Sport
- Irish Daily Mirror
What time and TV channel is the British and Irish Lions v Argentina on tonight
Andy Farrell's long wait to get back into the coaches box ends tonight as he returns to Lansdowne Road for the visit of Felipe Contepomi's Pumas in what is a novel fixture for the British and Irish Lions. Never before have the Lions played on Irish soil so that unwelcome record comes to an end here as Farrell gets down to business in a match scenario for the first time since Ireland's Autumn Series victory over Australia on November 30 of last year. Since then he has planned and plotted for this moment and, with many of his Leinster contingent still getting up to speed in Lions camp after their URC final success last weekend, there are six of his Ireland stars involved tonight. The game takes place at Aviva Stadium, Dublin The match kicks off at 8pm on Friday It will be shown live on TG4 (from 7.20pm) and on Sky Sports Main Event (from 7pm) The British and Irish Lions are 1/10 to win, Argentina are 13/2 to win, the draw is 30/1 Referee: James Doleman (New Zealand) Bundee Aki, Tadhg Beirne and Finlay Bealham are the three Ireland players who start the game, while replacements Tadhg Furlong and Mack Hansen are poised to make their return from injury and Rónan Kelleher will be hungry for his chance to shine when the time comes. Farrell will hope that his new-look side hit the ground running and immediately puts down a marker for the squad in terms of standards set, but Argentina won't make it easy. The 2025 Lions are finally ready to roar. British and Irish Lions: Marcus Smith, Tommy Freeman, Sione Tuipulotu, Bundee Aki, Duhan van der Merwe, Fin Smith, Alex Mitchell; Ellis Genge, Luke Cowan-Dickie, Finlay Bealham, Maro Itoje (captain), Tadhg Beirne, Tom Curry, Jac Morgan, Ben Earl. Replacements: Ronan Kelleher, Pierre Schoeman, Tadhg Furlong, Scott Cummings, Henry Pollock, Tomos Williams, Elliot Daly, Mack Hansen. Argentina: Santiago Carreras, Rodrigo Isgro, Lucio Cinti, Justo Piccardo, Ignacio Mendy, Tomas Albornoz, Gonzalo Garcia; Mayco Vivas, Julian Montoya (captain), Joel Sclavi, Franco Molina, Pedro Rubiolo, Pablo Matera, Juan Martin Gonzalez, Joaquin Oviedo Replacements: Bautista Bernasconi, Boris Wenger, Francisco Coria Marchetti, Santiago Grondona, Joaquin Moro, Simon Benitez Cruz, Matias Moroni, Santiago Cordero
Irish Daily Mirror
22-05-2025
- Sport
- Irish Daily Mirror
The World Rugby decision that means Ireland must hit ground running in November
Andy Farrell's return to the Ireland hot seat will coincide with higher than usual stakes for Ireland's tough Autumn Series campaign following confirmation that the Rugby World Cup draw will take place in December. Farrell joined the British and Irish Lions on a sabbatical after the 2024 Autumn internationals and will resume in the Ireland hot-seat in August after the Lions' return from their trip to Australia. The 49-year-old, his Ireland-heavy coaching staff and the record number of 15 Ireland internationals who have been selected for the 10-game tour won't have much time to recover before setting their sights on a vital November schedule. Ireland are facing the All Blacks in Chicago on November 1st before returning to Dublin to take on Japan (November 8), Australia (November 15) and South Africa (November 22). Currently third in the world rankings, Farrell will want his charges to maintain as high a place as possible to give themselves the best chance of breaking through that World Cup quarter-final glass ceiling at the next finals in Australia in 2027. The November Tests, however, will see them face the world's top two - South Africa and New Zealand, while Australia are currently ranked eighth following an upturn under Joe Schmidt. Even prior to November, Ireland must ensure that they take care of business on the lower profile summer tour to Georgia and Portugal with those games also counting towards the December rankings. Paul O'Connell will lead a squad depleted of frontline experience for the two-Test series, so it will be interesting to see if that plays into team selection. For the first time the World Cup draw will take place with all teams qualified for the finals. "It means that every match counts in the race for all important rankings positions ahead of the draw," said World Rugby in a statement. The final qualification tournament will take place in Dubai in November, with four teams competing across three matchdays for the final place at the World Cup. Belgium will participate in that tournament, with qualifiers still due to take place in Africa, South America and the Pacific. Meanwhile, World Rugby has approved the global trial of the 20-minute red card in elite competitions following what it describes as an extensive review of "successful" closed trials in Test and 'elite' club rugby over the past year.
