Former British and Irish Lions Sam Warburton and Will Greenwood have predicted Andy Farrell’s Test side to face Australia and believe five spots remain up for grabs.Â
Both Sky Sports analysts, two-time Lions tourist Warburton (2013, 2017 – both as captain) and three-time Lions tourist Will Greenwood (1997, 2001, 2005) presented a potential Test XV in the aftermath of the Lions’ 21-10 victory over the Waratahs on Saturday.
In the forwards, the positions of tighthead prop, openside flanker and blindside flanker were flagged as areas where there are no current favourites.
“If you open it up, I think out of the eight forwards we’d all go nailed on at 1, 2, 4, 5, 8: Genge, Sheehan, Itoje, McCarthy, Conan. We’re all pretty strong there,” Greenwood said.
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“Tadhg Beirne may have been in it in terms of the 6 jersey [blindside flanker], but after his performance [vs Waratahs] Ollie Chessum has got better by not playing.
“At No 3 [tighthead prop], it is still absolutely wide open. I went with Will Stuart before the tour, and Finlay Bealham has gone great so there’s still opportunities there.”
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On the back-row, Warburton added: “The one where we probably disagree a little bit is No 7 [openside flanker]. I’ve gone Jac Morgan and you’ve have gone to Josh van der Flier.
“I’m going to say this and there’s some viewers who will go: ‘Sam is talking about physicality again,’ but I’m going to double down there because that’s what wins Test matches.
“These eight guys, they purr about physically. They’re obviously all skilled and all good at set-piece. All of them can ball play to a degree as well.
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Sky Sports reporter Eleanor Roper is joined by Dan Biggar and Ronan O’Gara to dissect the Lions’ victory over the Waratahs
“But if I’m looking at the most physical pack I can pick right now, this is where Tom Curry would enter this conversation as well. He’s right up there from a physicality perspective.
“Will Stuart was thrown it around, he’s really good in the loose. He’s a big man. So I really like what he brings at No 3.
“We’re going to be playing a big, athletic Australian team. I think this is a pack that can take that physicality to another level.”
In response to disagreement over the openside flanker selection, Greenwood said: “I just thought Van der Flier, as a World Player of the Year and Farrell’s relationship with him might get him the nod.”
Warburton would select countryman Jac Morgan at openside flanker, while Greenwood would pick Ireland’s Josh van der Flier
Former Scotland captain John Barclay, who is also part of the Sky Sports coverage, looked closer at the back-row options.
“I think with 7 [openside flanker] you could literally flip a coin and we wouldn’t get it right every time.
“The one that might surprise people may be Chessum at 6 [blindside flanker].
“We’ve hardly seen him on tour at six but early in the tour the line-out was struggling. We saw a better version of that [on Saturday]. The way he moves around the park, he can play quite easily in the second row or back-row and adds so much aggression, physicality on the gain-line and ball carrying ability.”
Tadhg Beirne may previously have been in the box seat to start at blindside flanker, but has Ollie Chessum overtaken him?
Two centre spots the main backline question
In the backline, former centre Greenwood picked out the two midfield spots as the area open to most discussion, where four players are bidding for two places in Scotland duo Huw Jones and Sione Tuipulotu and Ireland pair Bundee Aki and Garry Ringrose.
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“Into the backs, again there’s lots of agreement. Jamison Gibson-Park and Finn Russell at 9 and 10 we’re very confident about. We’re really happy about Blair Kinghorn at 15 [full-back].
“With Tommy Freeman and James Lowe on the wings, Mack Hansen may come into that discussion and Duhan van der Merwe scores big tries, but we’ve settled on those.
“The area of disagreement we might have is centre.
“Garry Ringrose is a wonderful player but I’d just go with the Scottish midfield [Sione Tuipulotu, Huw Jones].
“In a team that’s not quite been functioning as well and making too many errors, then I go with the combinations that know each other best.”
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Warburton also said Lions players must call out ‘unacceptable’ errors for themselves rather than rely on coaches
British and Irish Lions tour of Australia on Sky Sports
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Watch the British and Irish Lions’ tour of Australia exclusively live on Sky Sports this summer
Sky Sports will exclusively show the 2025 British and Irish Lions tour of Australia, with all three Tests against the Wallabies and six warm-up matches to be shown exclusively live.
