Lions Vs. Argentina: Farrell's Squad Opens Tour With Historic Dublin Test
Lions Vs. Argentina: Farrell's Squad Opens Tour With Historic Dublin Test
The British & Irish Lions kick off their tour with a historic clash vs. Argentina in Dublin. Farrell’s men aim to impress with fresh talent and key combos.
Four long years, hundreds of test matches and a new generation of star players, the return of the British and Irish Lions is so close you can almost feel it.
Andy Farrell’s squad is nearing full strength with all but Toulouse’s Blair Kinghorn reporting for duty ahead of their grand odyssey down under.
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Prior to boarding their Qatar Airlines flight south, the Lions must navigate their first challenge on home shores against Argentina’s Los Pumas.
Twenty years removed from their 25-25 draw courtesy of an overtime Johnny Wilkinson penalty, both sides will be looking to add a W to their ledger.
Unsurprisingly, given the time of the season, both teams have named intriguing lineups shorn of a few key contributors who are either still on club duty or have just featured in a final.
Team News
England fly-half Fin Smith will make his British and Irish Lions debut in the No. 10 jersey when Andy Farrell's side opens its 2025 tour against Argentina in Dublin on Friday.
Smith is one of nine English players named in the starting XV, with Maro Itoje set to captain the Lions for the first time in what will be their historic first match on Irish soil.
Itoje leads a pack that includes England’s Tom Curry at blindside flanker, Jac Morgan of Wales at openside and Ben Earl at No. 8.
The second row sees Ireland’s Tadhg Beirne join forces with the skipper, while the front row features English duo Ellis Genge and Luke Cowan-Dickie alongside Ireland’s Finlay Bealham.
In the back line, scrumhalf Alex Mitchell partners Smith at halfback, while Marcus Smith starts at fullback, flanked by wings Tommy Freeman and Duhan van der Merwe.
Scotland’s Sione Tuipulotu and Ireland’s Bundee Aki form a physical, dual-inside-center midfield, with Huw Jones missing out on the matchday squad.
Among the replacements, England’s teenage flanker Henry Pollock is in line for his Lions debut, and Ireland hooker Ronan Kelleher is the only player involved who featured in last weekend’s domestic finals.
Tadhg Furlong returns from a calf injury to bolster the bench, which also includes backline options Elliot Daly and Mack Hansen.
Argentina, meanwhile, has named Julian Montoya as captain, just days after the hooker featured in Leicester Tigers' Gallagher Premiership final loss.
Head coach Felipe Contepomi has selected eight Premiership-based players in his starting lineup, with several Top 14 players yet to join the squad.
Contepomi admitted the Pumas have faced a compressed preparation period, with limited training time and a number of new faces, but praised his squad’s adaptability and intensity ahead of Friday night’s clash at the Aviva Stadium.
Key Selection Talking Points
Focusing on the Lions, Farrell has openly discussed his preconceptions coming into this tour about combinations he could see working, suggesting that there are several combinations for each position group. Three, in particular, stand out for Friday’s showdown.
At halfback, the Northampton Saints and England pairing of Alex Mitchell and Fin Smith get the first crack of the whip.
Coming into the tour, the consensus first choice pairing is that of the more experienced combination of Ireland’s Jamison Gibson Park and Scotland’s Fin Russell. However, given Leinster and Bath’s respective domestic success and an injury to Gibson Park, questions are being asked about just how quickly this pairing could gel.
Factoring in Farrell’s preference toward cohesion when picking his Ireland squads, where he relies heavily on provincial combinations, utilizing the inbuilt relationship between Mitchell and Smith could fast-track the squad’s adaptability to Farrell’s intricate attacking structures.
Just outside the Saints' halfbacks, the powerhouse center combination of Bundee Aki and Sione Tuipulotu quite possibly is the most powerful center combination in test rugby.
Both players appeared set to be in a shootout for the No. 12 shirt, and this still may yet be the case with Garry Ringrose and Huw Jones more natural 13s. However, Tuipulotu has proven to be a deft hand in the outside berth and could be freed up to lean into his playmaking abilities with Aki taking the bulk of the direct carries.
Irrespective of how the combinations play out, this pairing has the potential to be a gainline wrecking behemoth.
Finally, the lone combination in the pack that appears set to be a test pairing is that of captain Maor Itoje and Munster skipper Tadhg Beirne.
Among the elite locks in the game, both players bring a dynamic and pacey edge to the Lions pack. Itoje’s ability to run a wreck shop at the breakdown should open opportunities for the clinical poaching ability of Beirne.
In open play, both locks are exceptional carriers who fit perfectly into Farrell’s all-court scheme that is built on every player being able to handle the ball at an elite level.
Los Pumas boss Felipe Contepomi has pulled the strings with his own squad by naming interesting combinations.
No pairing is more intriguing than that of the dual playmakers Tomas Albornoz at fly-half and Santiago Carreras at fullback. This combination was deployed by Los Pumas toward the end of the 2024 Rugby Championship and immediately appeared to open up Contepomi’s attacking patterns.
On Friday, this pairing could be key to unlocking the Lions' defense that certainly still will be bedding in.
In the pack, the backrow combination of Pablo Matera, Juan Martin Gonzalez and Joaquin Oviedo is elite and will test the Lions' breakdown regularly. All three players are exceptional in the carry and will no doubt be worked into positions of mismatches if the Lions' defence is not on point.
Prediction
Taking into account the rushed nature of this test for both sides, predicting the outcome is a challenge, given the propensity for mistakes to occur due to a lack of cohesion.
Argentina’s new-look lineup is stacked with quality, but it is without some of their truly elite operators, namely Juan Cruz Mallia, Santiago Chocobares, Facundo Isa, Guido Petti and Matteo Carreras.
Long-term, the ability to stretch the squad depth is something that no doubt will stand the Rugby World Cup semifinalists in good stead.
Twenty years ago, a rotated Los Pumas squad pushed the Lions to the brink in Cardiff, before going on to make a historic World Cup semifinal two years later.
Argentina should still has more cohesion than the Lions, given several of its players featured in last season’s Rugby Championship and November window.
Whether this is enough to get them over the line is the question that needs to be answered, but at face value, the Lions should have too much individual quality to slip up.
If the Lions hold court at set-piece time, their back line will do some serious damage with the center combination making yards, while the back three have elite finishers on the wings and a deadly playmaker in Marcus Smith.
The forecast is for a very hot summer's evening in Dublin, which will lend itself to an open running game. We are backing the Lions to start their tour on a perfect note. Lions by 12.
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