British and Irish Lions: Andy Farrell says it is ‘insulting’ to question Australia’s future as Lions hosts

Andy Farrell has labelled coverage before and during his British and Irish Lions side’s tour of Australia questioning the Wallabies as future hosts as “insulting”. 

Australia form part of a four-year rotation with New Zealand and South Africa as Lions destinations, with tours to each respective country taking place every 12 years.

Unlike the All Blacks and Springboks, however, who have very much maintained their places high up in the order of world rugby, Australia have gone through a difficult period which has seen them drop as low as 10th in the world rankings – they are currently back to sixth – and suffered a first ever Rugby World Cup pool stage exit in 2023.

As a result there has been widespread coverage of the threat to Australia in terms of remaining on the Lions schedule, with Argentina and France talked up as two nations keen for a slice of the Lions.

“I don’t think it was ever on the agenda [Australia being removed as future Lions hosts], in my opinion,” Farrell told written media in Sydney.

“It would be tragic for us not to tour here. We’ve had a blast, and to me it’s insulting to even talk about it in that type of way.

“Every single team, country, province has their ups and downs, but Australia with the sporting nation they are, are always going to come back.

“That performance [at the MCG] on the weekend was no surprise to us, and that’s why we expect them to be better on Saturday.

“Have a look at the year they’ve got coming up. They’re going to be a force to be reckoned with 100 per cent, through all their experiences, come the World Cup in 2027.”

Of his own Lions future, Farrell was non-committal as to whether he would take on the post as head coach again for the 2029 tour to New Zealand.

“Give me a break. Let me get through Saturday. Honestly, for me, it’s been absolutely brilliant,” he said.

“I’ve loved absolutely every single minute. I knew I would because I just love everything the Lions do.

“Thinking about the future is something that’s surely not on my mind until I get home and have a bit of reflection on the whole thing.

“I think it’s just trusting yourself to live in the moment and what’s needed for any type of situation, because there’s a hell of a lot of planning. But the reality is we’re all just human beings and we’ve got to make sure we adjust on the way and trust yourself to be able to do that.

“I think you should never shy away from shooting for the stars, because you might end up on the moon.”

Farrell: 3-0 series whitewash would mean the world

Lions head coach Farrell had earlier told Sky Sports at his press conference:

“As you can imagine, it (a 3-0 series win) would mean the world to us.

“It’s something we promised ourselves we were going to chase after and try our best to represent the group as best we possibly can do.

“What goes along with that is representing the journey and brand of the British and Irish Lions, so we have a big responsibility this weekend.

“These lads have been training their whole life for these moments and do you know what’s been the most impressive thing about these people? Just how much they care.

“How much they care about the Lions, the Lions dream, and how much it means to them. When you package it all up together and what it takes to come together as a top-class outfit, as far as a group of teams are concerned, that’s about it.”

Australia vs Lions third Test squads in full

British and Irish Lions: 15 Hugo Keenan, 14 Tommy Freeman, 13 Huw Jones, 12 Bundee Aki, 11 Blair Kinghorn, 10 Finn Russell, 9 Jamison Gibson-Park; 1 Andrew Porter, 2 Dan Sheehan, 3 Tadhg Furlong, 4 Maro Itoje (c), 5 James Ryan, 6 Tadhg Beirne, 7 Tom Curry, 8 Jack Conan.

Replacements: 16 Ronan Kelleher, 17 Ellis Genge, 18 Will Stuart, 19 Ollie Chessum, 20 Jac Morgan, 21 Ben Earl, 22 Alex Mitchell, 23 Owen Farrell.

Australia: 15 Tom Wright, 14 Max Jorgensen, 13 Joseph Suaalii, 12 Len Ikitau, 11 Dylan Pietsch, 10 Tom Lynagh, 9 Nic White; 1 James Slipper, 2 David Porecki, 3 Taniela Tupou, 4 Nick Frost, 5 Will Skelton, 6 Tom Hooper, 7 Fraser McReight, 8 Harry Wilson (c).

Replacements: 16 Billy Pollard, 17 Angus Bell, 18 Zane Nonggorr, 19 Jeremy Williams, 20 Langi Gleeson 21 Tate McDermott, 22 Ben Donaldson, 23 Andrew Kellaway.

British and Irish Lions tour of Australia on Sky Sports

Sky Sports will exclusively show the 2025 British and Irish Lions tour of Australia, with all three Tests against the Wallabies and seven tour matches to be shown exclusively live.

Howden Insurance – proud principal partner and front-of-shirt sponsor of The British & Irish Lions. Find out more here.