The British & Irish Lions squad 2025 has now been announced. After months of speculation – and undoubtedly a few late selection headaches for Andy Farrell and his coaching staff – we now know the 38 players who’ll be travelling to Australia on the eagerly anticipated British & Irish Lions’ 2025 tour.

The British & Irish Lions squad who’ll head down under was unveiled at a special event at London’s O2 arena on Thursday 8 May. Lions chair and tour manager Ieuan Evans had the honour of reading out the names of the players selected, comprising 13 tourists from England, 15 from Ireland, 8 from Scotland and 2 from Wales. Farrell has picked 21 forwards and 17 backs.

England’s Maro Itoje will captain the side, as had been widely predicted – especially after Ireland skipper Caelan Doris picked up a shoulder injury playing for Leinster against Northampton Saints in the European Champions Cup semi-final.

The side’s first match is against Argentina in Dublin on Friday 20 June, the Lions’ first ever match in Ireland. The British & Irish Lions squad will then travel to Australia that weekend, before playing the Western Force in Perth on Saturday 28 June in the first British & Irish Lions 2025 fixture in the southern hemisphere. Read on to see which players have been selected.

Read more: British & Irish Lions fixtures 2025

British & Irish Lions squad 2025

FORWARDS (21)

• Tadhg Beirne (Munster and Ireland)
• Ollie Chessum (Leicester Tigers and England)
• Jack Conan (Leinster and Ireland)
• Luke Cowan-Dickie (Sale Sharks and England)
• Scott Cummings (Glasgow Warriors and Scotland)
• Tom Curry (Sale Sharks and England)
• Ben Earl (Saracens and England)
• Zander Fagerson (Glasgow Warriors and Scotland)
• Tadhg Furlong (Leinster and Ireland)
• Ellis Genge (Bristol Bears and England)
• Maro Itoje (Saracens and England) CAPTAIN
• Rónan Kelleher (Leinster and Ireland)
• Joe McCarthy (Leinster and Ireland)
• Jac Morgan (Ospreys and Wales)
• Henry Pollock (Northampton Saints and England)
• Andrew Porter (Leinster and Ireland)
• James Ryan (Leinster and Ireland)
• Pierre Schoeman (Edinburgh Rugby and Scotland)
• Dan Sheehan (Leinster and Ireland)
• Will Stuart (Bath Rugby and England)
• Josh van der Flier (Leinster and Ireland)

BACKS (17)

• Bundee Aki (Connacht and Ireland)
• Elliot Daly (Saracens and England)
• Tommy Freeman (Northampton Saints and England)
• Jamison Gibson-Park (Leinster and Ireland)
• Mack Hansen (Connacht and Ireland)
• Huw Jones (Glasgow Warriors and Scotland)
• Hugo Keenan (Leinster and Ireland)
• Blair Kinghorn (Toulouse and Scotland)
• James Lowe (Leinster and Ireland)
• Alex Mitchell (Northampton Saints and England)
• Garry Ringrose (Leinster and Ireland)
• Finn Russell (Bath Rugby and Scotland)
• Fin Smith (Northampton Saints and England)
• Marcus Smith (Harlequins and England)
• Sione Tuipulotu (Glasgow Warriors and Scotland)
• Duhan van der Merwe (Edinburgh Rugby and Scotland)
• Tomos Williams (Gloucester Rugby and Wales)

Related: What’s the fewest players from a single nation selected for a British & Irish Lions tour?

British & Irish Lions squad 2025: Captain

Maro Itoje, who’s previously toured with the Lions in New Zealand in South Africa, has been named captain of the 2025 British & Irish Lions squad (David Rogers/Getty Images)

As widely predicted, England’s Maro Itoje has been named as captain of the 2025 British & Irish Lions squad. The current England skipper has plenty of previous Lions experience, having toured New Zealand in 2017 and South Africa in 2021. He’s also started the last five Lions Tests.

Read more: British & Irish Lions captains: Who has led the Test side from 1888 through to the present day

British & Irish Lions squad 2025: Coaching staff

Richard Wigglesworth, Simon Easterby, John Dalziel, Andrew Goodman and John Fogarty will all be part of Andy Farrell’s coaching staff for the 2025 British & Irish Lions squad (Credit: British & Irish Lions)

Ireland boss Andy Farrell was appointed head coach of the British & Irish Lions squad for the upcoming tour to Australia back in January 2024.

In January 2025, it was confirmed that Farrell will be joined by David Nucifora (currently a consultant for the Scottish Rugby Union) as General Manager, Performance, along with two members of his Ireland backroom staff: Aled Walters as Head of Athletic Performance and Vinny Hammond as Head of Analysis.

Once the Six Nations 2025 had concluded in late March, Farrell added five assistant coaches to his British & Irish Lions coaching staff: England’s Richard Wigglesworth; Ireland’s Simon Easterby, John Fogarty and Andrew Goodman; and Scotland’s John Dalziel. Johnny Sexton, who was a member of the British & Irish Lions squads in both 2013 and 2017, was added to the assistant coach roster a few weeks later.

Farrell is yet to confirm the sextet’s specific responsibilities within the set-up.

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