The British and Irish Lions will get their 2025 tour underway on European shores as they take on Los Pumas in Dublin before heading off to Australia for their month and a half tour.
While you’d think this was the Lions series proper, with tickets for the clash at the Aviva more expensive than some of the Wallaby Test tickets, this is ultimately a warm-up game that will give Lions coach Andy Farrell a chance to test some combinations before he sides jets off to the ‘Land Down Under.’
British and Irish Lions v Argentina | Saturday 21 June | Aviva Stadium
To Win (80 Mins)
Lions | Draw | Argentina
Handicap
Lions | Argentina
It may essentially be a warm-up fixture for the Lions but a number of players will be looking to impress at the Aviva and push their credentials for a start in the first Test on July 19th.
For Andy Farrell and his coaching team, this game is all about looking at combinations between players who haven’t played much rugby together. Interestingly enough, Farrell has opted for to field both Marcus Smith and Fin Smith in the run-on XV with the former at fullback and the latter starting at ten. There’s a couple on interesting pairings elsewhere in the run-on XV with Bundee Aki and Sione Tuipulotu paired in a explosive centres commination, While Duhan van der Merve and Tommy Freeman have been given starts on the wing.
Looking at the forward pack, Tom Curry, Jac Morgan, and Ben Earl make up a versatile but somewhat lightweight backrow – this may be an indicator to the game plan the Lions are looking at for the Wallabies as a quick backrow should give them parity at the breakdown against Joe Schmidt’s men – while Maro toje and Tadgh Beirne pack down in the second row with Ellis Genge, Luke Cowan Dickie and Finlay Beatham ahead of them.
Los Pumas will be somewhat understrength for this one with a couple of their big guns involved in the Top 14 semi-finals. As such, head coach Felipe Contepomi has called up a number of domestically based players with 11 of his travelling squad plying their trade in Super Rugby Americas. The majority of their backline for Saturday is made up of these local players while there’s a bit of experience in their starting pack with Julian Montoya, Pablo Matera and Joel Sclavi all hardened Test players.
The Argentines enjoyed a decent if not spectacular 2025 campaign winning six of their 11 Tests, with this run including wins over South Africa and New Zealand. They did struggle against European opposition, however, losing to Ireland and France on their end of year tour.
Looking at the Argentines’ form against the Lions, the sides have met six times over the past 115 years with the Lions winning six of the seven fixtures. The latest clash between the sides took place in 2005 with Argentine coach Felipe Contepomi involved in the fixture that ended 25-25.
Verdict: Lions –
This is a very inexperienced Argentine side and I think they will struggle against a Lions team that look primed to play some running rugby this weekend.
