The 2025 British & Irish Lions fixtures finished with a defeat, the Wallabies winning the third and final Test 22-12 in Sydney to avert a series whitewash.
Torrential rain and threats of lightning strikes – that forced play to be suspended for 40 minutes early in the second half – marred the end of a series that had been clinched by the Lions after victories in Brisbane (27-19) and Melbourne (29-26).
Jac Morgan and Will Stuart scored for the Lions but the tourists never remotely threatened to complete a rare clean sweep. They finish with a tour record of eight wins and two defeats, the other reverse being by 28-24 against Argentina in the opening match in Dublin.
The British & Irish Lions squad will now head home or on holiday for a well-earned rest while Australia will start their Rugby Championship campaign.
British & Irish Lions 2025 results
Friday 20 June
- British & Irish Lions 24-28 Argentina
Aviva Stadium, Dublin
Saturday 28 June
- Western Force 7-54 British & Irish Lions
Optus Stadium, Perth
Wednesday 2 July
- Queensland Reds 12 v 52 British & Irish Lions
Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane
Saturday 5 July
- NSW Waratahs 10-21 British & Irish Lions
Allianz Stadium, Sydney
Wednesday 9 July
- ACT Brumbies 24-36 British & Irish Lions
Gio Stadium, Canberra
Saturday 12 July
- Australia & New Zealand XV 0-48 British & Irish Lions
Adelaide Oval, Adelaide
Saturday 19 July
- FIRST TEST
Australia 19-27 British & Irish Lions
Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane
Tuesday 22 July
- First Nations & Pasifika XV 19-24 British & Irish Lions
Marvel Stadium, Melbourne
Saturday 26 July
- SECOND TEST
Australia 26-29 British & Irish Lions
MCG, Melbourne
Saturday 2 August
- THIRD TEST
Australia 22-12 British & Irish Lions
Accor Stadium, Sydney
How do the 2025 British & Irish Lions fixtures compare to previous tours of Australia?
The British & Irish Lions were victorious on their previous tour to Australia in 2013 (Getty Images)
This will be the fifth official Australia-only Lions tour following trips in 1899, 1989, 2001 and 2013. The Lions won the series on each of those occasions aside for 2001, when Graham Henry’s team was beaten 2-1. (The Lions have visited Australia on other occasions, often in conjunction with a tour of New Zealand.)
The tourists will play nine British & Irish Lions fixtures in Australia, the same number their victorious predecessors played in 2013. A new addition to the schedule is the 22 July match against a First Nations & Pasifika XV in July, the first time such a team has ever been assembled. This game was originally supposed to take place against the Melbourne Rebels, but the dissolution of that franchise has meant a change of opponents.
Dropped from the schedule is the Combined Country (or NSW Country) fixture that the tourists have always won at a canter. Instead, the 2025 team will face a combined ANZAC side featuring players from New Zealand and Australia, a repeat of a British & Irish Lions fixture on the 1989 itinerary.
More: What’s the fewest players from a single nation selected for a British & Irish Lions tour?
Also missing is the stopover match against the Barbarians in the humidity of Hong Kong, which it was felt hampered the Lions’ preparations in 2013. This year’s pre-tour warm-up match takes place against Argentina in the rather more familiar conditions of Dublin – the first British & Irish Lions fixture to be played in Ireland.
As in 2013, the three Tests will take place in Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney, though back then the British & Irish Lions fixtures were completed by 6 July – nearly a whole month earlier than this tour wraps up.
Since beating Australia 2-1 in 2013, the Lions have drawn the 2017 Test series against New Zealand in 2017 and lost 2-1 to South Africa in 2021. The latter series was played without supporters because of the Covid-19 pandemic.
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