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HSBC SVNS World Championship 2026
Valladolid
Thursday
12:00
British & Irish Lions 2025

A club by club look at the 2025 British & Irish Lions squad

A general view ahead of the British & Irish Lions Squad and Captain announcement for the 2025 Tour of Australia at Indigo at The O2 in London, England. (Photo By Ben McShane/Sportsfile via Getty Images)
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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.

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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

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Comments on RugbyPass

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AM 12 minutes ago
Finger of blame quickly pointed after Leinster's Champions Cup beatdown

All very interesting , the blame game comes to the fore as rugby inexorably trends to the less attractive side already prevalent in soccer. Whilst I am no great fan of Leo Cullen as a coach I imagine there will be many Irish fans from munster, ulster and contact who are quietly pleased the the Leinster takes all the talent first experience has failed. Having said that the coaches don’t miss the tackles, drop the ball, give away the penalties etc and must take some ownership for their latest fall at the final hurdle. Tge better side on the day clearly deserved to win and had the game not been over by half time UBB may have gone on to score many more points.

In any spirts environment it does the sport in general no good at all for all the best players to be in one club, sooner or later someone bigger and better comes along, in this case UBB



...

34 Go to comments
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Ed the Duck 23 minutes ago
'It’s not like we’re a million miles away': Leo Cullen on the growing gap

Dream on Eric old bean! 😂

5 Go to comments
R
Rugby 101 - Ed Pye 54 minutes ago
'Tried and true': Ex-All Black winger Rico Gear assesses the options out wide for Dave Rennie

WTH is Gear talking about here? Rennie has a very short runway to the World Cup so selecting players that are leaving like Reece is an absolute idiotic call…it’s seconded only by selecting players that haven’t been in form since 2022. There is a long list of wingers that are better than these 2…Clarke, Moorby, Naholo, Carter, Narawa, Faainganuku, Jordan, RTK, Fihaki

38 Go to comments
J
Jfp123 1 hour ago
Johnnie Beattie: 'With smart recruitment, Bordeaux-Begles could dominate Europe for 10 years'

Why do you assume they will achieve a deeper squad? Isn’t that what every team is aiming for, but not all succeed.

12 Go to comments
S
SB 2 hours ago
Aussie Super Rugby takes: Reds' key men, Dylan Pietsch Australians form winger

The Wallabies will have a back 3 problem but a good one. Not sure who will be picked as there are plenty of options.

3 Go to comments
c
cnw 2 hours ago
Sir Graham Henry is the All Blacks' new kingmaker - and lords of the scrum high on his agenda

Hey PMcD starting to feel the NH bias in these comments 😂. The only teams to beat the Boks last year came from the Southern Hemisphere and whose players mainly play in the SR?

431 Go to comments
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PH 2 hours ago
Pablo Bouza: 'Spain's goal is to qualify for the knockouts at Rugby World Cup 2027'

Spain will be wanting to make up for lost time, after eligibility issues prevented them from appearing in last two Rugby World Cup's. They will surely be targeting a victory over Canada in Australia in 2027 and a potential last 16 spot, which would present a significant milestone in the development of Spanish rugby.

2 Go to comments
H
Hammer Head 2 hours ago
A number of 'top South African players' linked with Stormers

me too.

How’s the knee?



...

2 Go to comments
E
Eric Elwood 2 hours ago
Cullen’s bunker mindset may be double-edged sword as Leinster try to become ‘supermen for a day’

Follow the thread genius. Talk to the poster who claimed that Leinster were stealing players from other provinces.

25 Go to comments
c
cnw 2 hours ago
Sir Graham Henry is the All Blacks' new kingmaker - and lords of the scrum high on his agenda

Precision or blunt PMcD? From memory the ABs had the best strike rate from set play. The performance in Auckland last year against the Boks is the exemplar. Totally agree they seem to have lost their counter attack as NBs various articles show. But the “vaunted” 2023 ABs also had their bad days, as did the 2020-2022 ABs. The loss in the final of the WC - while affected by the red card - also showed that their attack struggled against the Boks defence and as it did against the French too. Fundamental change was needed. We needed structures that could build go to consistent pressure - Razor was clearly trying to do that. And mostly succeeded (though with spectacular failures - like all teams over the last 12 months). There were clearly some missing pieces - and as you rightly point out - the failure to go 6-2 at key times revealed that he definitely needed input from outside the tent and as NB was suggesting last year - someone from the NH like O’Gara would have been ideal.

431 Go to comments
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Eric Elwood 2 hours ago
'It’s not like we’re a million miles away': Leo Cullen on the growing gap

There is nothing to suggest they would have. Toulouse lost twice to Glasgow and Saracens in the pool. Northampton were hammerred in the pool without Bordeaux getting out of 2nd gear. Bath did OK, but they were picked apart too, and Leinster hammerred Bath last year. No evidence for what you say and Leinster could have done with stronger opposition before the final as they have had to face in other years. Its a particularly strong run of great French club teams, the strongets ever, and Leinster unlucky to be there or there about against such strenght. They will be back.

5 Go to comments
c
cnw 2 hours ago
Sir Graham Henry is the All Blacks' new kingmaker - and lords of the scrum high on his agenda

NB I have stayed away from this dialogue about Razor because hey I am a bit tired of being the lone discordant voice in this chorus. I agree that his systems struggled under pressure. I also agree with your analysis last year that he needed to bring in some outside the tent expertise to help him reignite the open field attack (eg an O’Gara). But the theme here that he was directionless and lacked nous is wrong and revisionist in my view. He was clearly trying to bring to the ABs a structured power game and it was building momentum. The wins against good opposition, including the Boks, Ireland, Scotland, Australia (who at that stage had just beaten the Boks and the Lions) and Argentina showed this. The loses were bad - but hey who has not had shockingly bad losses in the last 12 months - the Boks, France, Ireland, Scotland, Argentina, Australia, and England all included. Yet the history now seems to be that Razor lacked the basic skills to be a good coach based largely on second hand reports of player reactions. Against this we have the inside view of NZ’s most astute coach ever, Smith, who was happy with the direction he was taking. Did Razor have his faults and was he struggling to get his message through - seems so. Did he need help - for sure. But he was the second most successful coach last year in the world with a team still transitioning from a dynasty that had well and truly had its day. Rennie has inherited that base - and I really look forward to what he will bring - but just don’t agree that Razor was the lost coach most are now making him out to be.

431 Go to comments
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Ed the Duck 2 hours ago
'It’s not like we’re a million miles away': Leo Cullen on the growing gap

Exactly, UBB didn’t need to move beyond second gear after half time.

5 Go to comments
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JPM 3 hours ago
'It’s not like we’re a million miles away': Leo Cullen on the growing gap

But in the same way they benefited a particularly easy half of the draw. They certainly would have lost vs Bath, Northampton or Toulouse…

5 Go to comments
S
SB 3 hours ago
'It’s not like we’re a million miles away': Leo Cullen on the growing gap

With the squad he has at his disposal, they should never be out of a game by halftime.

5 Go to comments
P
Perthstayer 3 hours ago
Pablo Bouza: 'Spain's goal is to qualify for the knockouts at Rugby World Cup 2027'

Bouza sounds like a good human. Clever management and being respectful pays dividends.

Well done Spain on making another WC. Missing out in 2023 because of an admin error must have been soul destroying.



...

2 Go to comments
N
NB 3 hours ago
Sir Graham Henry is the All Blacks' new kingmaker - and lords of the scrum high on his agenda

Yes they will have choices to make, and the front row selections will be the litmus test for sure.

431 Go to comments
N
NB 3 hours ago
Is the Prem becoming 'like basketball - without the tackling?'

There’s already a 500-player plus lawsuit in the ofing.

151 Go to comments
N
NB 3 hours ago
Sir Graham Henry is the All Blacks' new kingmaker - and lords of the scrum high on his agenda

I think he’s the only front rower I can recall playing all three spots in teh front row G!

431 Go to comments
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NB 3 hours ago
Sir Graham Henry is the All Blacks' new kingmaker - and lords of the scrum high on his agenda

I do recall Matt Proudfoot trying to play THP for SCotland G! He was vast [probably you’d have had to knit two other three other Scotland prop toegther to make one of him] but he as not very good. Perhaps that is why he is a good caoch?

431 Go to comments
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