The British and Irish Lions will play a selection made up of players from Australia and New Zealand on their 2025 tour of Australia, they announced on Wednesday.
The match against Anzac, the acronym used until 1989 to define this mixed Australia-New Zealand selection, is scheduled for July 12, 2025 in Adelaide. It will be followed by three official test matches between the Lions and Australia, in Brisbane (July 19), Melbourne (July 26) and Sydney (August 2).
In total, the Lions (players from England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland) will play nine matches in Australia during this tour, the next in date, since they must also face the five Australian teams playing in Super Rugby. The last time a combined Anzac side played was in 1989 when they lost 19-15 to the Lions in Brisbane, but it was mostly Australians. Only three All Blacks had taken part in the match, scheduled then between two tests of the Blacks.
In 2021, for their last tour of South Africa, the Lions had a record of two defeats for a victory in stadiums behind closed doors due to the pandemic.
