Australia 2025.

The 2025 British and Irish Lions tour is fast approaching with next month’s Guinness Six Nations set to be the last time players can put themselves in the shop window on the international stage before selection.

Ireland boss Andy Farrell has now officially temporarily stepped away from his role with the men in green to become Lions coach full-time as he prepares to name his squad in the coming months.

The squad is expected to be very Irish-heavy given their form and wealth of talent compared to the other three nations, with the Guardian picking no less than eight Irish players in their Lions XV.

They’ve included an entire Irish front row alongside the likes of Tadhg Beirne and Caelan Doris, who is their choice for captain. Not one Welsh player makes their starting XV.

The Guardian’s Lions 23:

Blair Kinghorn (Scotland); Manny Feyi-Waboso (England), Huw Jones (Scotland), Sione Tuipolotu (Scotland), Duhan van der Merwe (Scotland); Finn Russell (Scotland), Jamison Gibson-Park (Ireland); Andrew Porter (Ireland), Dan Sheehan (Ireland), Tadhg Furlong (Ireland), Maro Itoje (England), Joe McCarthy (Ireland), Tadhg Beirne (Ireland), Josh van der Flier (Ireland), Caelan Doris (Ireland, capt).

Replacements: Dewi Lake (Wales), Pierre Schoeman (Scotland), Zander Fagerson (Scotland), James Ryan (Ireland), Ben Earl (England), Tomos Williams (Wales), Marcus Smith (England), Bundee Aki (Ireland).