A club by club look at the 2025 British & Irish Lions squad
Leinster have officially broken the record for the most players named in a modern-day Lions squad after Andy Farrell selected 12 players from the URC leaders for the 2025 tour of Australia.
Farrell’s 38-man squad includes 15 Ireland internationals, 13 from England, eight from Scotland, and just two from Wales, with players drawn from 15 different clubs.
Leinster are expected to earn around £1 million in fees for providing Garry Ringrose, James Lowe, Hugo Keenan, Jamison Gibson-Park, Josh van der Flier, Dan Sheehan, James Ryan, Andrew Porter, Joe McCarthy, Ronan Kelleher, Jack Conan and Tadhg Furlong.
Glasgow Warriors and Champions Cup finalists Northampton Saints each supply four players. Glasgow contribute Sione Tuipulotu, Huw Jones, Zander Fagerson and Scott Cummings, while Northampton provide Fin Smith, Alex Mitchell, Tommy Freeman and Henry Pollock.
Former Premiership and European champions Saracens send three players, including tour captain Maro Itoje, while Premiership leaders Bath have two representatives in Finn Russell and Will Stuart.
The 15 Ireland internationals make up the highest proportion of any single nation in a Lions squad since Karl Mullen and Bleddyn Williams led the 1950 tour of New Zealand and Australia—the first after the Second World War.
Here is a club-by-club breakdown of who has provided which players:
Bath (2): Finn Russell, Will Stuart
Connacht (2): Mack Hansen, Bundee Aki
Edinburgh (2): Duhan van der Merwe, Pierre Schoeman
Gloucester Rugby (1): Tomos Williams
Glasgow Warriors (4): Sione Tuipulotu, Huw Jones, Zander Fagerson, Scott Cummings
Harlequins (1): Marcus Smith
Leinster (12): Garry Ringrose, James Lowe, Hugo Keenan, Jamison Gibson-Park, Josh van der Flier, Dan Sheehan, James Ryan, Andrew Porter, Joe McCarthy, Ronan Kelleher, Jack Conan, Tadhg Furlong
Northampton Saints (4): Fin Smith, Alex Mitchell, Tommy Freeman, Henry Pollock
Toulouse (1): Blair Kinghorn
Saracens (3): Maro Itoje (captain), Elliot Daly, Ben Earl
Ospreys (1): Jac Morgan
Bristol Bears (1): Ellis Genge
Sale Sharks (2): Tom Curry, Luke Cowan-Dickie
Leicester Tigers (1): Ollie Chessum
Munster (1): Tadhg Beirne
A terrific squad! Congrats and good luck to Andy, Maro and all the players. Just fyi, England actually have the record number of players from a single country when 19 Englishmen were members of the 2001 Lions tour to Australia, not including the subsequent replacements. A terrific tour, with Brian O’Driscoll and Jason Robinson to the fore. Some of the best rugby I’ve ever seen been played! And the tour went down to the wire, before Australia managed to win. Let’s hope the 2025 leaves some great memories as well