Northern Edition
Select Edition
Northern Northern
Southern Southern
Global Global
New Zealand New Zealand
France France

Lions hype mid-field but it's an another 'awesome athlete' who's caught eye

By Ian Cameron at Aviva Stadium, Dublin
Bundee Aki passes the ball during the British & Irish Lions training session at The Campus, Quinta do Lago on June 12, 2025 in Faro, Portugal. (Photo by David Rogers/Getty Images)

The British & Irish Lions are relishing the chance to unleash their new-look centre pairing of Bundee Aki and Sione Tuipulotu in front of a sold-out Aviva Stadium on Friday.

ADVERTISEMENT

Head coach Andy Farrell named his match-day 23 on Wednesday for the 1888 Cup clash with Argentina.

The midfield pairing has been one of the main talking points, with Wallabies head coach Joe Schmidt cheekily describing them as “a Southern Hemisphere centre partnership that will be pretty formidable”.

Video Spacer

British & Irish Lions in collaboration with the RugbyPass App

Video Player is loading.
Current Time 0:00
Duration 0:15
Loaded: 0%
Stream Type LIVE
Remaining Time 0:15
 
1x
    • Chapters
    • descriptions off, selected
    • captions off, selected
    • en (Main), selected
    Video Spacer

    British & Irish Lions in collaboration with the RugbyPass App

    World Rugby and the British & Irish Lions announce a groundbreaking strategic collaboration that will see the RugbyPass App become the designated home of the British & Irish Lions Tour to Australia in 2025.

    Attack coach Richard Wigglesworth said the coaching ticket are excited ahead of the Lions’ first hit-out of the summer.

    “We’ve obviously got power and pace, and no little skill in between. Excited to see the centre partnership for the first time. They can both play through or around teams.

    “They should create some space for those boys out wide, who look pretty exciting, don’t they?

    “For us, we want to see how we work off the ball, how we connect to each other. Outside of that – as I said, first game together – we want to play the space and play fast.

    “Every Test match is different, every game is different. If we work hard with the players we’ve got, we’ll create some stuff.”

    ADVERTISEMENT

    Wigglesworth is also looking forward to the return of Duhan van der Merwe, the giant South African-born Scot, who hasn’t played since the Guinness Six Nations.

    “I’m sure he’ll feel it at some points in the game as the game goes on. He’s been training a while now and he looks incredibly sharp. An awesome athlete up close. We should expect to get some ball into space and him to do some pretty special things with it.”

    Wigglesworth gave an optimistic update on the walking wounded, including Leinster scrum-half Jamison Gibson-Park, who was pulled from their win over the Bulls on the day of the URC final. Ireland prop Tadhg Furlong has been named on the bench for the Aviva Stadium clash as he looks to prove his fitness after a calf strain.

    He has struggled with calf and hamstring issues all season, missing the 2024 autumn series and playing just once in the Six Nations.

    ADVERTISEMENT

    “They’re all not far away,” said Wigglesworth. “Jamison was running today, other guys are very close to running around with us all next week.”

    Related


    News, stats, videos and more! Download the new RugbyPass app, in collaboration with the British and Irish Lions, on the App Store (iOS) and Google Play (Android) now!

    ADVERTISEMENT
    LIVE

    The Classics vs Pasifika Legends

    South Africa v Argentina | World Rugby U20 Championship | Extended Highlights

    France v New Zealand | World Rugby U20 Championship | Extended Highlights

    England v Wales | World Rugby U20 Championship | Extended Highlights

    Tattoos & Rugby: Why are tattoos so popular with sportspeople? | Amber Schonert | Rugby Rising Locker Room Season 2

    Lions Share | Episode 3

    Zimbabwe vs Kenya | Rugby Africa Cup Semi Final | Full Match Replay

    USA vs Spain | Men's International | Full Match Replay

    Portugal vs Ireland | Men's International | Full Match Replay

    Trending on RugbyPass

    Comments

    2 Comments
    H
    Hammer Head 28 days ago

    Ah. The British, Irish and International Lions.


    Has a ring to it.

    J
    Jacque 27 days ago

    COULD NOT HAVE SAID IT ANY BETTER 🤣🤣🤣

    Load More Comments

    Join free and tell us what you really think!

    Sign up for free
    ADVERTISEMENT

    Latest Features

    Comments on RugbyPass

    T
    TWAS 37 minutes ago
    How the Lions will heap pressure upon Australia's million-dollar man

    I’m sorry but this just seems like incredibly selective analysis attempting to blame all team failures on JAS.


    Looking through the examples:


    Example 1 - long place by JAS, all support overruns the ruck. Pilfer also achieved by a player resting his arms on JAS - so should be a penalty for of his feet anyway. No failure by JAS there failing to secure the ball. By his team mates, yes.


    Example 2 - a knock on punched out by the first defender who’s tackle he initially beat, from behind. An error by JAS absolutely. But every player makes the odd handling error.


    Example 3 - JAS just beaten to the ruck because defender shoots to make a good tackle He passes and immediately follows. Potentially should have been a penalty to Aus because the tackler had not released and swung around into JAS’s path preventing him securing the ball, and had not released when the jackal went for the pilfer. Tackler prevented a clean release by Potter and if there was any failure, it was the ball carrier who got into a horrible position.


    I am struggling how you try and blame 1 on JAS and not support, but then blame JAS when the tackler fails to make a good placement.


    Example 4 - JAS flies into this ruck out of nowhere, seemingly runs past the 12 to get there. Also did you miss McReight and Williams just jogging and letting JAS run past them? Anyway he busts a get to get there but was beaten to the contest. Any failure here is on the supporting players, McReight and Williams and JAS showed great instinct to charge in to try and secure.


    Example 5 - JAS is following the lead of players inside him. How this is his fault I don’t know what you are thinking


    Example 6 - Gleeson misses a tackle so JAS has to drift in off his man to take the ball carrier, leaving a larger overlap when he offloads. Failure by Gleeson not JAS


    Examples 7 and 8 - Wallabies defensive line isn’t aggressive. But noting to do with JAS. Fisher has actually said he is not coaching a fast line speed. To try and blame JAS is again selective.


    Seems like an agenda in this rather than the genuine, quality analysis I’ve come to expect from the author.

    43 Go to comments
    TRENDING
    TRENDING Divisive Henry Pollock comments backed up by team-mate Divisive Henry Pollock comments backed up by team-mate