The British and Irish Lions will kick off their tour in 2013 in Hong Kong rather than Australia as expected.
The Lions are set to tour Australia for nine matches including three tests which with the Hong Kong fixture rounds the tour off at ten matches.
According to The Rugby Paper the Hong Kong date has provisionally been booked for the 1st of June 2013 and will be against a star studded Barbarians team rather than the likes of Argentina.
Hong Kong is the annual host of the most successful Sevens Rugby event and has hosted a Bledisloe Cup match between Australia and New Zealand. The two teams will play an additional Bledisloe Cup match this year in October before they hit Europe for their annual November internationals.
The Lions fixture in Hong Kong is expected to generate as much as GBP 5 Million for the four Unions that make up the British and Irish Lions.
The Rugby Paper goes on to say that former Scotland and British and Irish Lions fullback Andy Irvine from the 1974 tour to South Africa is inline to manage the 2013 British and Irish Lions tour.
Irvine's team-mate from 1974 Ian McGeechan who was coach of the 2009 Lions tour to South Africa and many others is helping the Lions to arrange the fixtures.
Fixtures for the 2013 British and Irish Lions tour to Australia are expected to be released later this year but The Rugby Paper predicts that the first Lions test will be on June the 22nd in Brisbane, the second Test on June the 29th in Melbourne and the third and final Test in Sydney on June the 6th.
