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Lions reach profit-sharing agreement with players

(Photo by Stu Forster/Getty Images)

Selection for next year’s British and Irish Lions tour to Australia will come with added financial benefits for those involved following a ground-breaking profit-sharing agreement.

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The agreement will see the creation of a new partnership model whereby a portion of distributable post-Tour profits will be made available for sharing between players.

In addition to the new financial model, the agreement will also result in increased collaboration between the Lions and the players particularly around scheduling and preparation.

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Joe Schmidt and Harry Wilson dissect the Wallabies loss to the All Blacks

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Joe Schmidt and Harry Wilson dissect the Wallabies loss to the All Blacks

For 2025, this will include a training camp and the pre-Tour Lions 1888 Cup match in June, following the squad announcement.

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British & Irish Lions Chair, Ieuan Evans, who played a starring role on the successful 1989 tour to Australia, said: “This is a significant development for the players who are integral to the success of every Lions tour, and it is right that their efforts on and off the pitch are recognised.

“With less than nine months to go until the first test in Australia, anticipation is building, and we are committed to creating the very best environment for our players both on and off the pitch.”

England captain Jamie George has been an influential voice in gaining more representation for players in discussions around the future landscape of professional rugby, and he is delighted at the latest development.

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George, who went on the 2017 and 2021 tours and has been capped four times in a red jersey, said: “Being selected as a Lion is considered by many players to be the pinnacle of their career. Wearing the jersey brings with it a unique duty, not only to perform on the day, but to uphold a legacy for the generations of Lions to come. To have the players’ voice heard and valued in shaping the team’s future is a very welcome development.”

Meanwhile, Finn Russell, who looks destined for one of the fly-half berths, added: “The Lions have built a great legacy that goes beyond the game itself. The players have always been at the heart of it and it’s only right that we create an environment where players are recognised for their efforts.”

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f
fl 1 hour ago
Significant step up in rankings possible for England and Italy

"Their attack and defence were both woefully disorganised with most of their penetration coming from solo efforts usually by Smith."

Maybe these things are related. Maybe England should select a 10 capable of organising an attack, rather than just going it alone.


"it's still not at all clear how England plan to attack or defend and after however long Borthwick has been in charge, that's not good"

England were poor in the first three games of the six nations last year, but their attack by the end was very impressive, given they only spent about a month properly developing it. That's an incredible rate of improvement that then immediately stalled: why? The coaching staff didn't change, and most of the personell didn't change. The only major difference was that the best game management 10 England had was replaced with someone who had previously played a bit-part role at 15 or finishing off games at 10 when opposition backlines were already tired.


"Borthwick knows England need to be able to make use of players like Smith and use their backs to convert territory into tries but it's alien to him and consequently England have no identity anymore."

to be fair, England did convert possession into tries in the autumn, the problem was that their attack was so disorganised it led to them (i) getting completely destroyed on the counter attack, and (ii) failing to retain possession, and so spending far too much time on defence - inevitably leading to missed tackles in the fourth quarter.


I'm also not sure what you mean by "players like Smith". Smith is one guy who forces a chaotic attacking style onto the team. Steward, Freeman, Roebuck, Feyi-Waboso, and England's vast plethora of opensides (I know you don't rate the Currys, but there's also Earl, Underhill, Pepper, when they are fit) would probably benefit more from a game built around contestable kicking and defence. Mitchell, Spencer, and JVP are probably better suited to that too. I'm not saying that England shouldn't build an attacking style, I'm just pointing out what I see as an extremely unbalanced framing that treats Marcus Smith as the main character of English rugby. My own personal view is that England should, depending on opposition and game state, switch between the uber-defensive system that they used against SA in the RWC, and a structured possession based attacking system similar to what Ireland have used for the past few years. I think Ford and Fin Smith, as well as almost the entirety of Englands options in the midfield and back three would do well in both of those systems, but Marcus Smith wouldn't.

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