England back-row Henry Pollock’s exceptional rise continued after he was named within the British & Irish Lions squad for the 2025 tour in Australia, whereas Marcus Smith was additionally included however there was no place within the squad for Owen Farrell, Sam Prendergast, Darcy Graham, Tom Jordan, Jamie George, Caelan Doris or George Ford.
Andy Farrell named a 38-player squad on Thursday on the O2 Enviornment in London, with Maro Itoje topped captain of the 2025 Lions. Pollock, 20, was the standout bolter for the tour given he solely made his Check debut for England in March, however there have been different eye-catching gamers included.
Fin Smith, Finn Russell and Marcus Smith journey because the three fly-halves, whereas Daly additionally makes the minimize for what shall be his third Check. Blair Kinghorn is the one France-based participant chosen, which means the much-admired Jack Willis misses out as Farrell named a squad of 21 forwards and 17 backs.
Different notable omissions embrace Doris who was seen as a front-runner for the captaincy, however he suffered a shoulder damage in Leinster’s Champions Cup defeat to Northampton on Saturday. He was set to endure surgical procedure this week, and it appears to be like like damage has dominated him out of the tour.
The likes of Prendergast, Owen Farrell, Graham, Jordan, George and Ford have been all within the combine however simply miss out with Andy Farrell choosing eight gamers from Scotland, two Wales gamers, 13 from England and 15 from Eire.
Within the front-row, Farrell has gone with Eire duo Dan Sheehan and Ronan Kelleher at hooker, alongside England’s Luke Cowan-Dickie. The props picked are England’s Ellis Genge and Will Stuart, Eire’s Tadhg Furlong and Andrew Porter, and Scotland’s Zander Fagerson and Pierre Schoeman.
Eire’s Tadhg Beirne, Joe McCarthy and James Ryan are picked within the second-row, with England’s Itoje and Ollie Chessum additionally chosen alongside Scotland’s Scott Cummings. Within the back-row, England’s Pollock, Tom Curry and Ben Earl are known as up as are Eire’s Jack Conan and Josh van der Flier and Wales’ Jac Morgan.
Within the backs, Farrell has opted for 3 scrum-halves: England’s Alex Mitchell, Wales’ Tomos Williams and Eire’s Jamison Gibson-Park.
The three fly-halves are Scotland’s Russell, England duo Fin Smith and Marcus Smith.
Within the centres, Eire’s Bundee Aki and Garry Ringrose get the nod, alongside Scotland duo Huw Jones and Sione Tuipulotu after which the again three shall be made up of England’s Elliot Daly and Tommy Freeman, Eire’s James Lowe, Hugo Keenan and Mack Hansen, and Scotland’s Duhan van der Merwe and Blair Kinghorn.
Full British and Irish Lions squad:
Forwards: Tadhg Beirne, Ollie Chessum, Jack Conan, Luke Cowan-Dickie, Scott Cummings, Tom Curry, Ben Earl, Zander Fagerson, Tadhg Furlong, Ellis Genge, Maro Itoje, Ronan Kelleher, Joe McCarthy, Jac Morgan, Henry Pollock, Andrew Porter, James Ryan, Pierre Schoeman, Dan Sheehan, Will Stuart, Josh van der Flier.
Backs: Bundee Aki, Elliot Daly, Tommy Freeman, Jamison Gibson-Park, Mack Hansen, Huw Jones, Hugo Keenan, Blair Kinghorn, James Lowe, Alex Mitchell, Garry Ringrose, Finn Russell, Fin Smith, Marcus Smith, Sione Tuipulotu, Duhan van der Merwe, Tomos Williams.
– British & Irish Lions fixtures for Australia tour
– NEWS: Eire captain Caelan Doris to endure surgical procedure
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