Bitter rivals have turned into best friends on the Qatar Airways British & Irish Lions Tour to Australia 2025, with hooker Dan Sheehan revealing he has struck up a bromance with prop Ellis Genge.
The front-row duo mostly interact by snarling at each other from opposite sides of a scrum whenever Ireland meet England in the Guinness Six Nations.
But, brought together in Lions red, the pair are teammates and may be playing alongside one another this summer.
“It’s mad how fast you can go from despising people to hanging around with them and going for coffee,” Sheehan joked.
“It’s probably just that rugby blokes are good blokes and you can turn on the hatred when you want it. But getting to know people has been one of the most enjoyable parts of the last few weeks.
“Genge would be a good one. He’s obviously a passionate, animated player for England and someone who we, as Ireland, would consider as a talisman and someone, in an Irish jersey, we’d need to target.
“Now he’s one person you enjoy having on the team. And he’s a funny bloke off the pitch. Everyone loves him. You can see the passion he brings to meetings, on to the pitch and in the scrum.
“He’s very real and says it how it is. He’s definitely someone that surprises you.”
The Lions arrived in Perth to start their Australian adventure over the weekend and play their first match Down Under against Western Force on Saturday.
Genge started the Lions’ defeat to Argentina last Friday and will be hoping to keep the starting loosehead jersey, while Sheehan was rested after playing for club side Leinster just a week before.
He is competing with fellow Irishman Ronan Kelleher and Genge’s England teammate Luke Cowan-Dickie for a starting place and admits he is chomping at the bit to get going.
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“Hopefully I’ll get a chance this weekend, or if not then next week,” Sheehan added.
“I want to feel I can contribute to the jersey just as others have had their chance.
“Being able to prep properly in a week with a proper Test feel to it, showing why I was picked, putting my best step forward and doing what’s best for the team – I feel sometimes if you haven’t played yet you feel like a bit of an imposter.”
The Lions have spent the first few days in Australia adjusting to the time difference, with light training sessions and cultural experiences.
Training will ramp up as the week progresses after, after losing to Argentina in The 1888 Cup, Sheehan is keen to see an improvement in their collaboration.
“It’s tricky. Test rugby is so detailed, every inch of the game we play today is so hyper-detailed that it’s tricky to do in two weeks. You probably saw that in Dublin on Friday,” he said.
“Knowing how much talent there is in the room and getting that all working together is what Andy Farrell has been labouring on with us already.
“There’s so much talent in the room and how we get it on to the pitch is the main challenge of the tour. Hopefully now we see an improvement, every Saturday and Wednesday.”
