Australia v British & Irish Lions: first Test – live

Key events

Preamble

Welcome to the beginning of the business end of the Lions tour 2025. All of the performances, incredibly awkward and forced social media content, and speculation about who will be selected for the big one has led to this: Australia vs British & Irish Lions in Brisbane.

All of the talk in the build up has focused more on the margin of the expected Lions victory with the result an apparently foregone conclusion. The Wallabies are currently ranked 6th in the world, and have only climbed from 8th due to losses by Argentina and Scotland in recent weeks, while the visitors are pulling from a fuller stock of four nations.

But as the old saying goes, “if you’re so clever, why are you not rich?” and Andy Farrell knows the expectation and feels the weight this places on his unpadded shoulders. And speaking of clever, Joe Schmidt, a man with a rugby brain the size of the Lions updated tour squad, has a completely pressure free environment to let his synapses run riot with diabolical plans and tactics to derail the tourist’s putative victory caravan.

It’s remains a tall order for the home side and in a few hours we will know the true extent of its height.

Kick-off: 11am BST, 8pm AEST