Four years after The British & Irish Lions last played and eight since we last saw a proper Sea of Red, the 2025 team is set to fire the starting gun on a Tour like no other.
On Friday night, Dublin will throw one hell of a going away party as the Lions host Argentina for the 1888 Cup at the Aviva Stadium.
This is the first Lions home game in front of a full stadium for 20 years – since Argentina’s last visit – with the game with Japan at Murrayfield in 2021 impacted by Covid-19, and the best chance for many to see the Lions in the flesh.
Andy Farrell, the Head Coach, is no stranger to this stadium, having led Ireland since 2019, and he has thrown down the gauntlet to his matchday 23 to stake an early claim for a Test place later this summer.
Argentina, ranked fifth in the world, will pose a massive threat, making this the perfect curtain-raiser to a long-awaited series with Australia that starts in a little over a month.
It’s not to be missed.
WHERE TO WATCH
Sky Sports will be showing all the action live in the UK, Ireland and Gibraltar throughout this summer’s Tour of Australia, beginning with the 1888 Cup.
Irish public service broadcaster TG4 and Welsh language channel S4C will provide the terrestrial broadcast for the 1888 Cup clash against Argentina, with S4C providing red button English commentary.
For a full breakdown, click here.
TEAM NEWS
Maro Itoje will fittingly lead The British & Irish Lions out for their first match of the summer on Friday.
The captain will line up in the second row alongside Tadhg Beirne, while there are four openside flankers in the starting XV and both Bundee Aki and Sione Tuipulotu named in the centres.
Fin Smith gets the first go at fly-half, with his Northampton Saints teammate Alex Mitchell at scrum-half, while Marcus Smith lines up at full-back in an early indication of what we could see this summer.
In a hefty back line, Duhan van der Merwe and Tommy Freeman both start, while the likes of Tadhg Furlong and Mack Hansen have both recovered from injuries in time to make the bench.
For Argentina, veteran hooker Julian Montoya is a familiar name after four seasons with Leicester Tigers, while Bath-bound Santiago Carreras starts at full-back and Tomas Albornoz at fly-half.
Saracens flanker Juan Martin Gonzalez is part of a back row completed by the experienced Pablo Matera and Perpignan’s Joaquin Oviedo.
WHAT THEY SAID
Lions head coach Andy Farrell: “It is exciting isn’t it. I did an exercise a couple of weeks ago, and I have done it five times since, what the Test side could look like but there is no point going there because there are so many options.
“This team on Friday can show those sat in the stands what they are all about.
“The squad are just trying to gain respect off one another, and I am sure World Rugby will be watching to see how Argentina and us perform, but these guys just want to impress one another first and foremost.
READ MORE: 1888 Cup talking points
“It was very exciting to name the squad and tell the boys who are the first to represent this group. The group we took to Portugal are ahead of the game and we got a sense of some combinations.
“For the others who joined us on Monday, it’s nice for them to have some time getting to know the lads and see what’s going on.
“We have had one training session so it is nice to get everyone together finally.”
Argentina head coach Felipe Contepomi: "We haven't been together for seven months and now getting together with lots of new faces it has been a challenge, but the guys have been magnificent.
"They are training with a lot of intensity, we are very pleased with how they adapted.
"We expect the best of the best from the British Isles, we know all their players and we expect them to be playing hard."
KEY BATTLE – Luke Cowan-Dickie v Julian Montoya
These two Premiership stalwarts came up against each just two weeks ago, and it was the Argentine who emerged on the winning side as Leicester Tigers beat Sale Sharks to reach the final at Twickenham.
Montoya is a Tigers legend. He won the title in his second season in the East Midlands and made more than 80 appearances in all competitions, while his departure will leave a big hole next season.
A key leader for both club and country, he is the captain of an Argentina team that has climbed to fifth in the world ahead of this game.
Meanwhile, Cowan-Dickie has overcome more hurdles than most in the time since his maiden Lions Tour in 2021.
The hooker spent 16 months on the sidelines following surgery on his neck which went wrong and has been open about the struggles he has faced, with gaming marathons keeping him up through the night and a move to France scuppered at the eleventh hour.
READ MORE: A guide to Argentina
But this season has seen Cowan-Dickie back on the field and back to his bulldozing best. The 31-year-old Cornishman has been rewarded with a second Lions call-up and is ready to seize his latest opportunity in red.
STAT ATTACK
The Lions play a match in Ireland for the first time and face Argentina for the first time in 20 years, having drew 25-all with the Pumas in Cardiff as a pre-cursor to the 2005 tour to NZ.
Fin Smith becomes the Lions' first grandson of a Lion to appear for the famous side, his grandfather, Tom Elliot (Lion #380), a forward from Galashiels, played in nine matches on the 1955 tour to South Africa.
There are three Northampton Saints in the starting XV, the first time this has occurred since the second test in South Africa in 1997.
There are half-backs picked from the same club for the first time since Ospreys’ Dan Biggar & Rhys Webb started together against Otago on 13 June 2017.
TEAMS
The British & Irish Lions: Marcus Smith; Tommy Freeman, Sione Tuipulotu, Bundee Aki, Duhan van der Merwe; Fin Smith, Alex Mitchell; Ellis Genge, Luke Cowan-Dickie, Finlay Bealham, Maro Itoje, Tadhg Beirne, Tom Curry, Jac Morgan, Ben Earl.
Replacements: Ronan Kelleher, Pierre Schoeman, Tadhg Furlong, Scott Cummings, Henry Pollock, Tomos Williams, Elliot Daly, Mack Hansen.
Argentina: Santiago Carreras; Rodrigo Isgro, Lucio Cinti, Justo Piccardo, Ignacio Mendy; Tomas Albornoz, Gonzalo Garcia; Mayco Vivas, Julian Montoya (c), Joel Sclavi, Franco Molina, Pedro Rubiolo, Pablo Matera, Juan Martin Gonzalez, Joaquin Oviedo
Replacements: Bautista Bernasconi, Boris Wenger, Francisco Coria Marchetti, Santiago Grondona, Joaquin Moro, Simon Benitez Cruz, Matias Moroni, Santiago Cordero
