"Seven Hours of Decisions" - 5 Things We Learned: British & Irish Lions Squad Announcement

The squad announcement was hosted by former England and Lions wing Ugo Monye and world renowned journalist Lee McKenzie. It was a star-studded occasion from the get go, as the likes of Lions legends Alun Wyn Jones, Jonny Sexton and the newly appointed captain Maro Itoje all shared their thoughts on the upcoming tour.

Here are five things we learned from the 2025 British & Irish Lions squad announcement

Lets begin with the main reason why over 2,000 Lions fans decended on North Greenwhich this afternoon. Andy Farrell has confirmed his picks for the British & Irish Lions tour to Australia, with Ieuan Evans bestowed the honor of announcing the invited players for the trip 'down under'. From the selected group, 15 hail from Ireland, whilst 12 represent England, eight for Scotland and two for Wales.

Leinster storm ahead as the side with the most representatives, as 12 players have been called up from the Irish province. Northampton Saints then follow the Dubliners with the next highest contributions, as four East Midlanders have been selected for the tour.

Aled Walters and John Fogarty revealed that there was an initial long list of 72 players, that was whittled down to 38 for today's announcement. Farrell confirmed how the coaching staff began their decision making process at 8am yesterday, and were not finished in their picks until 3pm that afternoon. By all accounts, the Lions coaches sat in silence for the first hour, with such a colossal selection task ahead.

Overall, there are only 12 men in the squad that have previously experienced a Lions tour, which highlights the relative Lions inexperience of the selected group. Here is a full recap of the players:

FORWARDS: 1. Tadhg Beirne 2. Ollie Chessum 3. Jack Conan 4. Luke Cowan-Dickie 5. Scott Cummings 6. Tom Curry 7. Ben Earl 8. Zander Fagerson 9. Tadhg Furlong 10. Ellis Genge 11. Maro Itoje 12. Ronan Kelleher 13. Joe McCarthy 14. Jac Morgan 15. Henry Pollock 16. Andrew Porter 17. James Ryan 18. Pierre Schoeman 19. Dan Sheehan 20. Will Stuart 21. Josh van der Flier

BACKS: 22. Bundee Aki 23. Elliot Daly 24. Tommy Freeman 25. Jamison Gibson-Park 26. Mack Hansen 27. Huw Jones 28. Hugo Keenan 29. Blair Kinghorn 30. James Lowe 31. Alex Mitchell 32. Garry Ringrose 33. Finn Russell 34. Fin Smith 35. Marcus Smith 36. Sione Tuipulotu 37. Duhan van der Merwe 38. Tomos Williams.

After plenty of build up, that included a proverbial 'passing of the torch' from Alun Wyn Jones, Maro Itoje was unveiled as the new British & Irish Lions captain. Just five months on from when Steve Borthwick handed the Saracen the mantle of the England team, Itoje will lead the Lions into a new era in his third Lions tour.

"It's a tremendous honour. It's a tremendous privilige. You think about the people that have held this position before and it's remarkable." Itoje said, after being asked what the accolade means to him. Itoje expressed how the news was broken to him on Tuesday, after he recieved a mystery call from an unknown Irish number. The lock was delighted to hear a Wigan accent on the other line of the phone, and after some technical issues, the Lions head coach requested for Itoje to be his Lions captain.

Maro commemorated the honour with a 'Lions Captain's Dinner' on Wednesday night, as he met and dined with an assortment of former Lions leaders. Itoje was announced into a room with the likes of Alun Wyn Jones, Paul O'Connell, Martin Johnson, Sam Warburton and Gavin Hastings, to mark the occassion with a classy dinner in the heart of London. Itoje described the Lions as a 'brotherhood', with the lock coming full circle having carried Bill the stuffed lion around as the youngest player on the 2017 tour to New Zealand.

A tradition that runs deep within the British & Irish Lions, is the niche responsibility that comes with being the youngest member of the touring squad. As mentioned above, Maro Itoje had to take care of Bill in 2017 - the large stuffed lion toy that can't be left out of sight by the designated player. Louis Rees-Zammit was bestowed the honor on the 2021 covid-era tour of South Africa, which proved to be an easier challenge given the restrictions in place for the Lions at the time.

Northampton Saints golden boy Henry Pollock has the honor this year, as at just 20 years, three months and 24 days old, he is continuing his meteoric trajectory upon the international stage. Whilst Pollock has little over 20 minutes of Test match action under his belt, coming from his England debut in the final round of the 2025 Guinness Men's Six Nations against Wales, his incredible form in green, black and gold has carried him through for a Lions call-up.

Record numbers of British & Irish Lions fans are expected to travel out to Australia, with the fabled 'sea of red' set to engulf the land of the Wallabies in an almighty tidal wave. The Lions CEO Ben Calverly shared some insider figures, on the immense capacity of ticket applications for both the trip 'down under' and for the Lions' send off Test match against Argentina at Dublin's Aviva Stadium.

The home of Irish rugby has a capacity of 51,700 fans, with four times the capacity of fans applying for a ticket. Calverly revealed how over 250,000 fans have applied to witness the Lions opening match against Los Pumas, with the precedence set for the incredible fan support of the upcoming tour. Also, 40,000 fans will follow the Lions out to Australia, which Calverly has confirmed is double the numbers of the Lions last trip 'down under' in 2013.

The Lions CEO then revealed the plans for a record-setting Test match, as the Lions and Wallabies take centre stage at the iconic Melbourne Cricket Ground. The second Test of the three match series will be held at the 100,000 seat stadium, with an expected sell-out crowd set to set a new attendance record for the British & Irish Lions. Currently, the record Lions attendance is 84,188, which was set at Sydney's Accor Stadium from the 2001 tour to Australia.