From two players of the tour to the 1888 Cup, this recent British & Irish Lions Tour is no stranger to handing out pointless silverware.

With that in mind, Rugby World thought it would get in on the act and ask columnist Paul Williams to present his own prestigious awards post-circus. After all, he watched every single minute of the action sofa-side at home.

So without any more delay for thunder and lightning, here are the 2025 Unofficial British & Irish Tour Awards presented by Rugby World…

The Unofficial British & Irish Lions Tour Awards

The ‘coaches know best’ award – Tom Curry

Pre-tour, everyone in Lions’ land seemed to have gone off Curry, like it was the end of some weird food fad. How wrong we all were. You’ll note there the ‘we’, not ‘they’ – they being the coaches.

Tom Curry was incredible in all three tests, and proof, if proof need be, that coaches obviously know better than the rest of us sofa dwellers. In some games, Curry’s stats didn’t always ping off the page, but he dominated in the things that most stats simply don’t cover.

Whilst many supporters (like me) tend to dwell on stats like metres carried, it’s the metres run without the ball that coaches often marvel at.

Curry chased kicks like a cat following a laser pen (whether it was the first minute, or the 70th) and knocked people backwards in a manner rarely seen since club doormen have become licensed.

Well played Tom – proved everyone wrong, except the coaches of course.

Read more: Why Ellis Genge was the dad of the 2025 Lions Tour

The ‘biggest pain in the ass award” – Nic White

A big part of rugby is being a pain in the ass. But being a pain in the ass can mean many things.

You can be a pain in the ass in the scrum, ruck, in midair, at mauls, or verbally. But there was only player who was a 100% percent pain in the ass, at all times on the field and that was Nic White.

To prove how much of a pain in the ass he really was, he’s won this award and only played in one test. Nic White’s influence on the third test was impossible to ignore.

His basic skills were incredible – in particular his box kicking. But that isn’t why he’s won this award. He was in the middle of literally every scuffle to the point where only a severe outbreak of ringworm could have got deeper underneath the Lions’ skin.

Made all the worse of course once he had a load of tape wrapped around his head – there are few more irritating sights than White talking smack, with that moustache and a full wrap of tape around his head.

Well played Mr. White, you brilliantly horrible little bastard.

The ‘Mr. Consistent’ award – Tadhg Beirne.

There were plenty of very consistent players on this tour, Ellis Genge being one, but none more so than Tadhg Beirne. He was fantastic in every aspect of the game.

When players get coaching instructions, you get the impression that most of them accomplish 70% of them – with Tadhg B, it’s nearer 99%. He is a coach’s dream.

Read more: Why Andy Farrell told Tadhg Beirne off after the third Test

The perfect six/ lock hybrid who even at 6ft 5inches tall, manages to deliver the same level of jackalling efficiency as a 6ft openside. At no point in any game on tour did Tadhg Berine look flustered. It was like watching Final Destination 15 ‘The Lions Edit’, where he’d seen it all coming, and knew how to get out of it.

Pre-tour, few had Tadhg B in their squads, let alone starting lineups, yet he won the most prestigious award on the tour – the Tom Richards medal.

Well played, Sir.

The biggest impact award – Will Skelton

Will Skelton makes an impact wherever he goes. You only need to see him wandering around a French supermarket and your breath will stutter.

His impact on the Lions’ series was incredible and makes you appreciate what a rare athlete he really is. He is a one-man carrying pod in a world of three-man pods. Where the gainline isn’t a goal, but a given.

One on one he is literally impossible to stop and any contact with him is energy sapping to the point that he is almost unique in rugby at the moment. When he was selected for the second test, the whole tour changed.

That isn’t hyperbole, the tour changed. If the Wallabies could have had Rob Valetini and Will Skelton fit for all three tests, this tour would have been even closer than it was. You are awesome Mr. Skelton.

Read more: All you need to know about the upcoming Women’s Rugby World Cup

The ‘biggest re-brand’ award 

Finn Russell was awarded the Lions’ tour sponsor’s player of the series award.

He was Howden’s Player of the Series and it’s easy to see why. Whilst the third test wasn’t really a game for outside halves (with everything being played off nine due to the weather), Russell had a fantastic tour. His kicking was accurate, his passing mellifluous and his decision-making calm – not to mention how well he defended.

But even though he won two awards (the series win and the POTS award), it’s perhaps something that’s he’s lost which is now more important – and that’s the tag of being a rather risky option as a test ten.

He isn’t a risk anymore and as most Scotland and Bath fans will tell you, he hasn’t been for a while. Russell now plays an incredibly balanced game, one which fuses chaos, with calm. Pre-tour there were suspicions that another ten may wrestle the shirt off him, but that did not materialise –  at all.

Russell was one of the few players on tour whose position in the lineup was never questioned once during the whole venture – and that is very rare for any individual on a Lions’ tour.

Well played Finn.

The ‘unluckiest player of the tour’ award – Josh van der Flier

Lions tour’s don’t always work out for everyone. It’s the nature of the game. One of those players was Josh van de Flier. As good as both Tom Curry and Jac Morgan were, and they were, it’s difficult not to feel sorry for JvdF.

To miss out on tours due to injury and then to finally be selected, yet not feature in a test, is tough – especially when you were World Player of the Year just three seasons ago.

But as a supporter it does make you realise how tough some of these selection decisions are for the coaches and the players – especially if the head coach is also your national team coach. Chin-up JvdF, still a Lion and a fantastic player regardless.

The ‘lasting memory’ award – Garry Ringrose

Lasting memories on Lions’ tours tend to be tries, kicks or tackles. But arguably the lasting memory on this tour is that Garry Ringrose placed the importance of his long-term memory over that of short-term rugby memories.

That may seem like a rather flippant way to sum up the situation, but that is the truth of it.

It was a sensible, yet brave thing to do and probably the first time that it has ever happened on a Lions tour. Hat tip for Mr. Ringrose.

The ‘coach of the tour’ award – Joe Schmidt

Andy Farrell did of course win the series, and congratulations to you Sir, but this award has to go to Joe Schmidt. Schmidt did the impossible and made this tour genuinely competitive.

Pre-tour everyone worried it would be a three nil blow out, but it wasn’t. The post tour vibe is quite the opposite. Schmidt managed to turn an entire rugby nation around in the time it takes most people to plan and fit a kitchen.

To see him getting the Wallabies to play heavy carrying, multi-phase rugby in the tests was a testament to how quickly he’s managed to get his blueprint understood and executed. Well coached, Mr. Schmidt. 

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