British & Irish Lions fixtures 2025

The 2025 British & Irish Lions fixtures got under way with a defeat as Argentina pipped them 28-24 in a pre-tour match in Dublin.

Converted tries by Bundee Aki and Tadhg Beirne, plus a penalty try, were not enough as the Lions lost a tour opener for the first time since 1971.

The British & Irish Lions squad bounced back with a 54-7 defeat of Western Force.

A crowd of 46,656 – a record for a rugby union game in Perth – saw tries by Dan Sheehan, Tomos Williams (two), Elliot Daly (two), Garry Ringrose, Joe McCarthy and Alex Mitchell get the Lions on track. Following his second try, Williams left the field with a hamstring injury.

It was the first of nine matches in Australia as Andy Farrell and his coaching team try to build a team capable of beating the Wallabies on home soil.

Over the next five weeks, there will be British & Irish Lions fixtures against Super Rugby sides Queensland Reds, NSW Waratahs and ACT Brumbies, as well as an invitational combined Australia and New Zealand XV led by former All Blacks head coach Ian Foster. There will also be a first-ever match against a First Nations & Pasifika XV.

Read more: British & Irish Lions captains? Who has led the Test side from 1888 through to the present day

The tour will culminate in a three-match series against the Wallabies, with the Tests taking place in Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney. The tour concludes on Saturday 2 August.

British & Irish Lions 2025 fixtures

Friday 20 June

  • British & Irish Lions 24-28 Argentina
    Aviva Stadium, Dublin

Saturday 28 June

  • Western Force 7-54 British & Irish Lions
    Optus Stadium, Perth

Wednesday 2 July

  • Queensland Reds v British & Irish Lions
    Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane
    Kick-off: 11am BST / 12pm SAST / 8pm AEST / 10pm NZST / 6am ET / 3am PT

Saturday 5 July

  • NSW Waratahs v British & Irish Lions
    Allianz Stadium, Sydney
    Kick-off: 11am BST / 12pm SAST / 8pm AEST / 10pm NZST / 6am ET / 3am PT

Wednesday 9 July

  • ACT Brumbies v British & Irish Lions
    Gio Stadium, Canberra
    Kick-off: 11am BST / 12pm SAST / 8pm AEST / 10pm NZST / 6am ET / 3am PT

Saturday 12 July

  • Australia & New Zealand XV v British & Irish Lions
    Adelaide Oval, Adelaide
    Kick-off: 11am BST / 12pm SAST / 8pm AEST / 10pm NZST / 6am ET / 3am PT

Saturday 19 July

  • FIRST TEST
    Australia v British & Irish Lions
    Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane
    Kick-off: 11am BST / 12pm SAST / 8pm AEST / 10pm NZST / 6am ET / 3am PT

Tuesday 22 July

  • First Nations & Pasifika XV v British & Irish Lions
    Marvel Stadium, Melbourne
    Kick-off: 11am BST / 12pm SAST / 8pm AEST / 10pm NZST / 6am ET / 3am PT

Saturday 26 July

  • SECOND TEST
    Australia v British & Irish Lions
    MCG, Melbourne
    Kick-off: 11am BST / 12pm SAST / 8pm AEST / 10pm NZST / 6am ET / 3am PT

Saturday 2 August

  • THIRD TEST
    Australia v British & Irish Lions
    Accor Stadium, Sydney
    Kick-off: 11am BST / 12pm SAST / 8pm AEST / 10pm NZST / 6am ET / 3am PT

How do the 2025 British & Irish Lions fixtures compare to previous tours of Australia?

Jamie Roberts scores the British & Irish Lions’ fourth try in the final Test of the 2013 series in Australia

The British & Irish Lions were victorious on their previous tour to Australia in 2013 (Getty Images)

This will be the fifth official Australia-only Lions tour following trips in 1899, 1989, 2001 and 2013. The Lions won the series on each of those occasions aside for 2001, when Graham Henry’s team was beaten 2-1. (The Lions have visited Australia on other occasions, often in conjunction with a tour of New Zealand.)

The tourists will play nine British & Irish Lions fixtures in Australia, the same number their victorious predecessors played in 2013. A new addition to the schedule is the 22 July match against a First Nations & Pasifika XV in July, the first time such a team has ever been assembled. This game was originally supposed to take place against the Melbourne Rebels, but the dissolution of that franchise has meant a change of opponents.

Dropped from the schedule is the Combined Country (or NSW Country) fixture that the tourists have always won at a canter. Instead, the 2025 team will face a combined ANZAC side featuring players from New Zealand and Australia, a repeat of a British & Irish Lions fixture on the 1989 itinerary.

More: What’s the fewest players from a single nation selected for a British & Irish Lions tour?

Also missing is the stopover match against the Barbarians in the humidity of Hong Kong, which it was felt hampered the Lions’ preparations in 2013. This year’s pre-tour warm-up match takes place against Argentina in the rather more familiar conditions of Dublin – the first British & Irish Lions fixture to be played in Ireland.

As in 2013, the three Tests will take place in Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney, though back then the British & Irish Lions fixtures were completed by 6 July – nearly a whole month earlier than this tour wraps up.

Since beating Australia 2-1 in 2013, the Lions have drawn the 2017 Test series against New Zealand in 2017 and lost 2-1 to South Africa in 2021. The latter series was played without supporters because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Download the digital edition of Rugby World straight to your tablet or subscribe to the print edition to get the magazine delivered to your door.

Follow Rugby World on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.