British and Irish Lions squad 2025: 10 losers from Andy Farrell's selection

It is the cruel part of any sport, but with the joy that comes with being selected for a squad, so too comes the disappointment for some players of missing out. Now that Andy Farrell has named his 2025 British and Irish Lions squad, there are plenty who will be feeling that pain currently.

Four nations into one squad is an equation that leaves some very good players sitting at home, but that is the nature of a Lions tour.

Whether it’s injury, form or just a case of your face not fitting, there are always a host of players who may have seemed confident at one point about making the tour, but will now miss out. Worse still, their one chance of being a Lion may have passed them by.

Here are the unlucky ones that did not make the cut:

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Caelan Doris
In a world without injuries, the Ireland captain may well have been the first name on Farrell’s squad-list and a probable captain. But more than most sports, rugby is merciless, and it just so happened that Doris’ shoulder injury came in the final match before the squad was selected. Cruel, cruel luck for the 27-year-old.

Sam Prendergast
At the age of 22, Prendergast will surely make a Lions tour in the future, but he has fallen short in the biggest moments in this breakthrough season of his. His showing against Northampton Saints in the Investec Champions Cup semi-final only reinforced pre-existing concerns about him and his troubles were only compounded by the fact that he was thoroughly outplayed by Lions rival Fin Smith. It is worth remembering that Prendergast is still very green in the Test arena, and he will be back.

Darcy Graham
At the end of the day, Graham’s misfortune comes down to a simple question: ‘who do you drop instead of him?’ The Scotland wing can count himself unlucky, but this is a competitive area of the field.

Immanuel Feyi-Waboso
The Exeter Chiefs and England winger was in a weird limbo where he would have been lucky had he been selected, but is probably slightly unlucky to miss out. Fully fit, he’d be on that plane Down Under, but he hasn’t played a minute in 2025 following surgery for a dislocated shoulder. Selecting him would have been too much of a risk.

Jamie George
At the beginning of the year, the 34-year-old looked a comfortable favourite to make the Lions tour. But first he lost the England captaincy, then he lost his starting berth to Luke Cowan-Dickie. He still played a prominent role in England’s Six Nations campaign (where he earned his 100th cap), but this is a little less surprising than it would have been a few months ago.

Jack Willis
No one can call into question what Willis has achieved for Toulouse over the past 18 months, as he has perhaps only been second to Antoine Dupont as their most influential player. But his lack of exposure to Test rugby since the 2023 World Cup has clearly worked against him here.

Ben Curry
Curry’s name would have been a strange inclusion on this list before the Six Nations, but a barnstorming campaign, particularly as an impact sub, thrust him straight into the Lions mix, so much so that he can rightfully feel aggrieved he won’t be joining his brother on the plane to Australia. He did all he could do, however, and he would not have foreseen the meteoric rise of his compatriot Henry Pollock, who may have nabbed his spot.

George Ford
Only gifted a handful of minutes from the bench for England in the Six Nations, which came in the final match against Wales, Ford looked to be out of the running for the Lions midway through March. But he has returned to Sale Sharks and guided them to four successive league wins, with champions Northampton Saints and former champions Saracens part of that quartet. Given the inverse change in fortunes for Marcus Smith after the Six Nations, plenty may have thought that that would have been enough to earn the 32-year-old his first Lions call.

Robbie Henshaw
Could the Champions Cup semi-final have played a part in Farrell’s decision-making? Quite possibly. His opposing centre, Fraser Dingwall, could equally feel hard done by after outplaying the Irishman in Dublin.

Owen Farrell
This would have been a selection based on reputation rather than form after an indifferent season with Racing 92, who have only just squeezed their way out of a relegation scrap. Then again, as far as reputations go, there are few players more respected in international rugby by his peers than the former England captain, who is the epitome of a Test-match animal.