There’s no place for Jonny Wilkinson, Ryan Jones, England captain Chris Robshaw or Ireland captain Rory Best, but there are places for ex-international prop Matt Stevens and rookie winger Sean Maitland.

Warburton becomes the 28th captain of the British & Irish Lions, but only the 4th Welsh captain of the Lions. Gatland said “In the last 12 months the composition of the touring party and the appointment of the captain has created much speculation and debate, and today it is great that we at last announce our captain and players to represent the very best of British & Irish rugby. Being selected as a Lion is a huge honour for a player and marks a major highlight in his career.

“I would particularly like to congratulate Sam who becomes one of the youngest ever Lions captains. We have an existing working relationship through the Wales team and Sam is an impressive individual and natural leader and I look forward to working with him in the coming weeks and on the Tour.”

On becoming Lions captain Warburton said “Being selected as a British & Irish Lions tourist is itself a huge honour and something that I, like all players, have dreamed about. To be asked to lead the Tour as captain to Australia is unbelievable and I am very, very honored to be asked.

“It is a proud honour for me, Cardiff Blues and Wales, and to follow in the steps of former Welsh Lions’ captains such as John Dawes and Phil Bennett is amazing. As the latest custodian I will endeavor to do the very best job I can.

“The Tour to Hong Kong and Australia will be a huge challenge against one of the top three teams in the world. However, I am confident that we have the ambition, talent and attitude to mount a serious challenge against the Wallabies on their home soil and return victorious.”
The squad reads as follows:

Tommy Bowe
Dan Cole
Tom Croft
Alex Cuthbert
Jonathan Davies
Ian Evans
Toby Faletau
Owen Farrell
Ritchie Gray
Leigh Halfpenny
Dylan Hartley
Cian Healy
Jamie Heaslip
Richard Hibbard
Stuart Hogg
Gethin Jenkins
Adam Jones
Alun Wyn Jones
Rob Kearney
Dan Lydiate
Sean Maitland
Conor Murray
George North
Sean O’Brien
Paul O’Connell
Brian O’Driscoll
Geoff Parling
Mike Phillips
Jamie Roberts
Jonny Sexton
Matt Stevens
Justin Tipuric
Manu Tuilagi
Mako Vunipola
Sam Warburton (c)
Ben Youngs
Tom Youngs

Check out our full list of squad profiles on our squad page.

The post 2013 British & Irish Lions Squad Announced appeared first on Lions-Tour.com.

Henry warned of the dangers of taking only the best performing players in his squad instead of taking into account the character of the players making up the fringes of the squad.

Talking to the The Rugby Site, Henry outlined the problems he faced when coaching the Lions on the last tour to Australia in 2001.

In particular he talked about the players outside of the test team who caused trouble for the rest of the squad and players that were in the test side.

Without naming any names (although we can probably all have a good stab at who he is talking about) Henry talked about the lack of support from certain individuals on the tour.  “I had naively assumed that all the players would understand the Lions concept and put the team first. That wasn’t always the case with certain individuals.”

“I picked solely on talent. I don’t expect Gatland to make the same mistake. He has far more experience than I had. He has coached Ireland, Wales, Wasps, Grand Slams and he has a marvellous record.

“In all likelihood he will pick his best 23 and then look very seriously at the rest of the tour party in terms of personality and character. He will want players who can help out the test team even when they know they won’t be playing.”

Graham Henry stepped down as head coach of the All Blacks when they won the Rugby World Cup in 2011. He currently works as an advisor and mentor to Argentine Rugby Union and Super 15 franchise the Blues.

The post Henry Tells Gatland To Choose Lions Squad Carefully appeared first on Lions-Tour.com.

The full list of officials is as follows:

 1 June 2013
British & Irish Lions vs Barbarians
Venue: Hong Kong Stadium, Hong Kong
Referee: Steve Walsh (Australia)
Assistant referees: Lourens van der Merwe (South Africa), Angus Gardner (Australia)
Television match official: Matt Goddard (Australia)
Assessor: Scott Young/Andrew Cole (Australia)

5 June 2013
Western Force vs British & Irish Lions
Venue : Patersons Stadium, Perth, Australia
Referee: Glen Jackson (New Zealand)
Assistant referees: Jaco Peyper (South Africa), Garratt Williamson (New Zealand)
Television match official: tba (New Zealand)
Assessor: Scott Young/Andrew Cole (Australia)

8 June 2013
Queensland Reds vs British & Irish Lions 
Venue : Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane, Australia
Referee: Jaco Peyper (South Africa)
Assistant referees: Jerome Garces (France), Garratt Williamson (New Zealand)
Television match official: tba (New Zealand)
Assessor: Scott Young/Andrew Cole (Australia)

11 June 2013
Combined New South Wales & Queensland Country vs British & Irish Lions
Venue : Hunter Stadium, Newcastle, Australia
Referee: Jerome Garces (France)
Assistant referees: Glen Jackson (New Zealand), Jaco Peyper (South Africa)
Television match official: tba (New Zealand)
Assessor: Scott Young/Andrew Cole (Australia)

15 June 2013
Waratahs vs British & Irish Lions 
Venue : Sydney Football Stadium, Sydney
Referee: Jaco Peyper (South Africa)
Assistant referees: Jerome Garces, Glen Jackson (New Zealand)
Television match official: tba (New Zealand)
Assessor: Scott Young/Andrew Cole (Australia)

18 June 2013
Brumbies vs British & Irish Lions 
Venue : Canberra Stadium, Canberra
Referee: Jerome Garces (France)
Assistant referees: Craig Joubert (South Africa), Jaco Peyper (South Africa)
Television match official: tba (New Zealand)
Assessor: Scott Young/Andrew Cole (Australia)

22 June 2013
Australia vs British & Irish Lions 
Venue : Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane
Referee: Chris Pollock (New Zealand)
Assistant referees: Craig Joubert, Romain Poite (France)
Television match official: Vinny Munro (New Zealand)
Assessor: Clayton Thomas

25 June 2013
Melbourne Rebels vs British & Irish Lions
Venue : AAMI Park, Melbourne
Referee: Glen Jackson (New Zealand)
Referee: Romain Poite (France), Craig Joubert (South Africa)
Television match official: Ben Skeen (New Zealand)
Assessor: Lyndon Bray

29 June 2013
Australia vs British & Irish Lions 
Venue : Etihad Stadium, Melbourne
Referee: Craig Joubert
Assistant referees: Chris Pollock (New Zealand), Romain Poite (France)
Television match official: Ben Skeen (New Zealand)
Assessor: Lyndon Bray

6 July 2013
Australia vs British & Irish Lions
Venue : Sydney
Referee: Romain Poite (France)
Assistant referees: Chris Pollock (New Zealand), Craig Joubert (South Africa)
Television match official: Vinny Munro (New Zealand)
Assessor: Tappe Henning

The post Match Officials for British & Irish Lions Tour Announced appeared first on Lions-Tour.com.

What a fantastic way to round off the Six Nations this weekend.  Everybody thought the big game down in Wales was going to be a tight game of small margins where one try would decide but it really didn’t turn out that way!

I think you have to take your hat off to Wales and say that they managed and policed the game absolutely to perfection.  They used the crowd and ground perfectly to sow the seeds of doubt in England minds and apart from the lone Farrell penalty, even in the first half England flattered to deceive and Wales were in the driving seat.

I think once it got up to half time with the score at 9-3 I think Wales will have gone in and thought the game was there for the taking and they certainly went out in the second half and took it.  England defended for ten minutes or so but then fell apart as sometimes a young and inexperienced side can do when they are in the face of an immovable force.

Wales were great, they played the right game.  They mixed it between forward dominance to their line-out, from their aggressive defence to their ball carrying, spreading it wider and so on.  They played the perfect tactics and got it all spot on.

It’s interesting that before the game everyone reporters and spectators alike thought it would be tight  game and if the game was being played today then it would be a tight game, but on the day Wales were in fantastic form, England were nervous and jittery and the combination of that made it a one sided victory on the day and thoroughly deserved at that!

I was also really pleased to see Italy do so well in this years championship.  I think it was their highest finish in the Six Nations and they really could have beaten England at Twickenham which could have added another two points and you could have been talking about them finishing third or maybe even second in the tournament.

Italian rugby is coming on in leaps and bounds and they are now proving in the Six Nations that no-one can go to Rome and get an easy ride and that just makes the whole tournament an even better competition now.

Ireland n the other hand have been poor. They’ve had a couple of sterling performances from some of their senior professionals, but you have to say that Declan Kidney is now under some real pressure I would think.  He’s taken the side on and they’ve declined in quality and they need to rebuild again.    That’s the cycle of what happens in rugby and I think they will need to go back to the drawing board a little bit.

Like Italy, Scotland also had a very good tournament.  Apart from a 40 minute period when England blitzed them a little bit, they very much held their own against most of the sides.

I read a report that Scott Johnson said that Scotland just need to start believing in themselves and I totally, totally agree.  They lose games by small margins and when you look back at how those games were lost, it’s always a missed tackle or a silly kick for goal when they should have kept hold of the ball, that sort of thing.

They’ve just got to learn how to win games and when they do Scotland for the next few years will be a side that no-one will relish playing, especially at Murrayfield.

So with the Six Nations now complete, all the international attention turns to the Lions and I know I keep saying it but I think the last few games have shown that everything is still up for grabs.

You look at that Wales v England game, where people were talking about Chris Robshaw being a potential Lions back row forward and captain, you have to look at Sam Warburton in that last game and he was outstanding.  He’s really put forward his claim, not only to be captain, but to be the first name down on the teamsheet in the back row.

Each game keeps changing it.  Warren Gatland will go away and have a look at those players who are on form and you have to say that on Saturdays performance you have to say that there will probably be more Welsh in the side now than English, particularly in the back row and front row.

Six months ago when you picked your Lions side it would probably have been mainly Welsh players and then it swayed back to Ireland and the English after their win against the All Blacks, then in the Six Nations the Scots have come back into it and now we’re talking about the Wales side again, so it’s such a nice problem to have, but if I was Warren Gatland then I think it would be an extremely difficult selection process.

So if we take the current position on the captaincy, I think it will either go to Brian O’Driscoll or the welshman Warburton.  Chris Robshaw probably hasn’t done enough to be captain simply because he may not have won a place in the test side and that is paramount.

There’s still quite a way to go in terms of picking the rest of his squad.  Gatland doesn’t have to pick his side until the end of April so he’s keeping his powder dry.  There will undoubtedly be injuries between now and then so he’ll not need to name his side too early.  Why name your side and then pick up a couple of injuries and have to go cap in hand to somebody that you left out first time round.

He’ll have an idea of his squad and he’ll have got the views of his team of selectors and he’ll be watching the remaining Heineken Cup games and top league matches to see whether the players are maintaining form and then he’ll make his final selections in the last couple of weeks before the announcement.   The race for selection is most certainly not over yet!

The post Cooch’s Lions Watch – Six Nations Part 5 appeared first on Lions-Tour.com.

Pocock was carried off in the 13th minute of his sides Super 15 match win against the Waratahs following a collision with his own team mate Adam Ashley-Cooper.

The Brumbies confirmed on Sunday morning that the injury was serious and that it would rule him out for the rest of the season including the upcoming Lions tour.

Pocock said “To hurt my knee so early in the season is obviously disappointing, particularly considering how well the team has been playing,”

“The medical staff have given me plenty of time to make a full recovery so my focus has to turn to making that a reality. We had 17 different surgeries during the off-season so I’ve got faith in the club to get me back to full strength.”

The injury is a real blow for Wallabies coach Robbie Deans as Pocock is one of, if not the most important player in the Wallaby side and his absence will be keenly felt.

Along with New Zealand openside Richie McCaw, Pocock is considered the best in the world at his position and will be hugely missed by the Wallabies.

The post Wallaby talisman David Pocock out of Lions Tour appeared first on Lions-Tour.com.

Stellar names from the world of rugby including Italy captain Sergio Parisse and fellow Italian Martin Castrogiovanni who is making his debut for the Barbarians will be present.

Other names making their debuts for the Barbarians on this tour include Samoan scrum half Kahn Fotuali’i and French back row Imanol Harinordoquy.  Also returning for the Barbarians for the tour is Springbok centre Jacque Fourie.

Talking to the Barbarians web site, team manager Derek Quinnell told them “”This year’s summer tour is a very important one for our club. It is a great honour to play the Lions as well as England and we are very conscious of the need to invite the strongest possible squad to do justice to two great fixtures.

“As the weeks go by and national squads are selected and domestic cup and league competitions reach their final stages, we are monitoring who will be available to us. We then decide on the best balance of our squad in all positions and will make further announcements in due course.”

The British & Irish Lions will face the Barbarians in the opening match of the Lions tour on the 1st June 2013 in Hong Kong.

The post Barbarians Release First Names for Lions Fixture appeared first on Lions-Tour.com.

Tickets went on sale at 9am Australia time and ticket websites including Ticketek were overwhelmed with requests from rugby fans looking to snap up the last few tickets.

A spokesman for the ARU told the  Brisbane Times that tickets for the second and third tests in Melbourne and Sydney had gone by 9.15am.

“That is indicative if what we’ve seen over the last fortnight in terms of the pre-sale opportunities we’ve given people,” the spokesman said.

“It’s also in line with the demand that we saw in 2001 [when the Lions last toured Australia].”

Fans flooded online forums and social media sites to complain about the speed that the tickets sold out, especially given the speed with which tickets ended up on eBay shortly afterwards.

The post British & Irish Lions Tickets Sell Out In Minutes appeared first on Lions-Tour.com.

The Australian Rugby Union (ARU) have announced that the remaining tickets for the Lions Tour matches will go on general sale on Monday 18th February 2013 at 9am Australian local time.

Tickets are available to all of the matches including all of the provincial matches and the three test matches against the Qantas Wallabies.

However, the tickets are only available to Australian residents and are not for sale to international customers.

For details on prices, you can find the information on the ARUs ticketing page.  To buy your tickets, you’ll need to get them from Australian ticketing web sites, Ticketmaster, Ticketek and  Proticket.

The post Lions Tour Tickets To Go On General Sale appeared first on Lions-Tour.com.

England coaches Andy Farrell and Graham Rowntree join Wales backs coach Rob Howley to make up Gatlands core coaching team.  There is no place for his Wales defence coach Shaun Edwards or Leinster coach Joe Schmidt, both of whom had been widely tipped for Lions roles.

Edwards is said to be particularly disappointed by his omission from the coaching team given his roles with Gatland stretching back many years and given he was a coach on the previous tour to South Africa alongside Gatland in 2009.

The lack of representation in the senior back-room team from Ireland and Scotland is likely to cause some ruffled feathers with Scotland’s sole representative being doctor James Robson who has been an ever present on the last six Lions tours since 1993.

The absence  of a leadership role from the Irish camp will fuel speculation that the Lions captain will come from Ireland with the captains of the last two lions tour coming from Ireland in both Brian O’Driscoll and Paul O’Connell.

2005 Lions Captain Brian O’Driscoll is in the last throws of his career but is hoping to go out on a high having represented the Lions on the last three tours and not having yet won a series despite being a stand out performer.

Munster lock O’Connell captained the Lions on the last tour to South Africa in 2009, but he has been suffering from a recent run of unspectacular form and a few injuries that have plagued his season so far.

Both players will be hoping for a big Six Nations to be able to press their claims for a starting spot which is the first step on the road to winning the Lions captaincy.

Gatland said “I am delighted with today’s appointments and confident that Rob, Graham, Andy and myself can come together quickly to face one of the hardest rugby challenges.

“Lions Tours are unique as we have to mold together players from four different countries in an incredibly short space of time.”

“We have no illusion as to the hard work required but we have spoken of the challenges and truly believe that as a coaching team we can provide the players with the support and environment needed for victory in Australia.

“We will also discuss over the coming weeks the requirement for any further technical assistance.

Other coaching and medical staff members confirmed today include Adam Beard, Paul Stridgeon, Rhys Long, Rhodri Brown, Dr James Robson,  Prav Mathema and Phil Pask.

Operations and Media staff to include: Guy Richardson, Gerard Carmody, Patrick O’Reilly, Max Duthie, Greg Thomas, Dave Barton, Christine Connolly.

The post British & Irish Lions Coaches Announced appeared first on Lions-Tour.com.

It is understood that Gatland will announce a team of England coaches Andy Farrell and Graham Rowntree along side Wales backs coach Rob Howley.  The appointment of Howley will caused raised eyebrows in some quarters in Wales as he was due to take charge of Wales’ tour to Japan that is due to take place at the same time as the Lions tour.

The press conference in scheduled for 11am on Wednesday 12th December 2012 and we will feature coverage of the announcement as it happens on Wednesday so make sure you check back here for details as it happens.

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