Andy Farrell named head coach for 2025 tour of Australia

The new head coach will speak at a press conference at 1pm but his offical opening statement runs as follows:

It is a tremendous honour and a privilege to be named Head Coach of The British & Irish Lions. I know how special Lions Tours are having been involved in the 2013 and 2017 Tours, so I am delighted to get the chance to lead the team in 2025.

There is a wealth of talent across Britain and Ireland, and I am looking forward to building a team that can deliver the ultimate goal of success in Australia. I also want to thank the Irish Rugby Football Union for their support in allowing me to accept this prestigious opportunity.”  “The British & Irish Lions fan base is really special, uniting supporters from England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales and beyond. Mobilising that Sea of Red by creating a team that our fans can connect with and be proud of will be a key priority for me and will be crucial to our success.

Here is the statement:

The British & Irish Lions has today announced the appointment of Andy Farrell as Head Coach for the Lions Men’s 2025 Tour to Australia. The Ireland Head Coach was unveiled at an official event at the head office of global insurance group, Howden, a Principal Partner for the upcoming 2025 Lions Tour.

Andy Farrell will start in his role in December 2024 and will work solely with the Lions until the conclusion of the 2025 Tour to Australia. He will confirm his full British & Irish Lions coaching team in due course. Farrell played a key role as defence coach under Warren Gatland for the 2013 Series win in Australia and in the drawn Series in New Zealand in 2017.

The panel that selected the Head Coach was chaired by Ben Calveley, British & Irish Lions CEO, and consisted of Ieuan Evans, British & Irish Lions Chairperson, along with former British & Irish Lions players Brian O’Driscoll, Sir Ian McGeechan, and Nigel Redman.

Good afternoon and welcome to live coverage of Andy Farrell’s inaugural press conference as the British & Irish Lions coach for the three-Test tour of Australia in the summer of 2025. The Pie-Eater, head coach of Grand Slam winners Ireland and one of the 10 greatest British League players of all time, becomes the first Englishman since Sir Clive Woodward in 2005 to lead the Lions and only the second since the Second World War, after Woodward and Surgeon Rear Admiral Leslie ‘Ginger’ Osborne who took the side Down Under in 1950.

Farrell succeeds Warren Gatland, who led them on the last three tours, beating Australia, sensationally tying the series with New Zealand and losing the rotten, behind closed doors Covid tour of South Africa in 2021 which could have sounded the death knell for the entire project. Farrell’s major tasks will include filling his coaching team, balancing it with key roles for people from the four unions, selecting a captain to succeed Alun Wyn Jones and sorting out the strategy and philosophy that guides the touring party. Should he need any help in that regard, no doubt the Godfather of the modern Lions, our own Sir Ian McGeechan, will be on hand to share his insights, experience and, by the time the enterprise begins with a home Test against Argentina, 51years of experience as a Lion.