To all the Lions supporters who’ve been in Australia for the last six weeks, thanks for coming and I hope you have a safe and enjoyable trip home. We’ve enjoyed having you.
Why the Lions will be back
It’s the economy, stupid.
Probably my biggest annoyance from the Lions tour was the British press questioning if there should be another Lions tour to Australia after this one. In my view questioning it during the tour was extremely disrespectful and showed a lack of class. The narrative being run was that Australia was not up to it. I thought I’d challenge the numbers to show why we are a worthy tour destination from both a rugby and a commercial perspective.
Attendance.
From an attendance perspective we can discount the last tour to South Africa during COVID. However, the previous tour to New Zealand had a total attendance of 343,269 over 10 games at an average of 34,327; the 2009 tour of South Africa had a total attendance of 347,929, also for 10 games, with an average of 34,793.
The 2013 Lions tour to Australia had an attendance of 389,409 over 10 games average of 38,940 per game. The 2025 tour had 453,167 attend over 9 games at an average of 50,351 per game.
The Games
One of the other tropes is the Australian provincial sides are not up to standard. In the last Lions tour to South Africa the Lions lost one lead up game to South Africa A but had an average winning margin of 34.2 points. In the games against the Australian provincial and invitational teams the average winning margin was 25.5 points. The results from the 2017 tour to New Zealand was obviously much closer.
I’d also point out that the Reds travelled to England in their pre-season and beat Bristol 82 to 21 which was the bin juice team. Ulster lost 38 to 31 but to their credit put up the best available team minus the Irish reps. So, I wonder what the Lions would do to either of those teams.
The economic reality is that we can look forward to seeing the Lions in 2037. I cannot wait.
Glasgow Warriors sign Ottavio Tuipulotu as seventh hooker in squad for 2025-26 season.
GLASGOW WARRIORS have signed Ottavio Tuipulotu, the youngest brother of Scotland captain Sione and of Edinburgh midfielder Mosese, on a two-year contract.
The arrival of the 21-year-old at Scotstoun will take the number of hookers on the books at the club up to seven. Johnny Matthews, Grant Stewart and Angus Fraser are currently on deals that run until at least next summer, and it is understood that the contract Gregor Hiddleston signed in Februay 2024 will also run out at the end of the upcoming 2025-26 season (although the details have not been released). Meanwhile, academy prospects Joe Roberts and Seb Stephen have been earmarked as two of the most promising prospects in the Scotland Under-20s team which recently competed at the Junior World Championship in Italy, with the latter having made an impressive Warriors debut against Leinster in May.
A Melbourne native, Tuipulotu was capped eight times for the Australia Under-20s during 2023-24 having overcome two knee reconstruction surgeries before his 18th birthday. Like his brothers, he qualifies to play for Scotland through his Greenock-born grandmother.
We can only wish him well.
Los Pumas squad for two tests against New Zealand.
Props: Francisco Coria Marchetti, Pedro Delgado, Joel Sclavi, Nahuel Tetaz Chaparro, Mayco Vivas, Boris Wenger (development player)
Hookers: Julián Montoya, Bautista Bernasconi, Ignacio Ruiz
Locks: Franco Molina, Lucas Paulos, Guido Petti, Pedro Rubiolo
Loose forwards: Nicolás D’Amorim, Juan Martín González, Santiago Grondona, Marcos Kremer, Pablo Matera, Joaquín Oviedo,
Scrumhalves: Simón Benítez Cruz, Gonzalo García, Agustín Moyano
Flyhalves: Tomás Albornoz, Santiago Carreras, Gerónimo Prisciantelli
Centres: Santiago Chocobares, Lucio Cinti, Justo Piccardo
Wings: Mateo Carreras, Bautista Delguy, Rodrigo Isgró, Ignacio Mendy
Fullbacks: Benjamín Elizalde, Juan Cruz Mallía
Fantasy Rugby Championship launches for 2025 competition.
From Pravda
The G&GR league will be up and running for this. Following the success of the Super Rugby Pacific edition, users will get the chance to build a squad and battle it out with friends, family and on the global leaderboard. The format follows a similar structure to the Super Rugby Pacific format, albeit with a few tweaks. There will be a budget of $100m to build a team consisting of 15 players, with average prices of players increasing to make decisions even tougher to nail down a team.
A minimum of three and a maximum of six from any Rugby Championship nation must be selected in each fantasy team. Also, 50-22 has been introduced as a new scoring play, with any successful kick worth 10 points. This is the second highest scoring play for an individual, only behind scoring a try (15).
Springboks flyer Cheslin Kolbe and All Blacks star Will Jordan are the most valued players in the competition with $10 million. Beauden Barrett is the highest valued flyhalf with $9.5 million, with Kurt-Lee Arendse closely behind at $9 million. For Australia, Tom Wright is the most valuable player at $8.5 million, with Argentina flyhalf Tomás Albornoz the best for Los Pumas at $8 million.
As in Super Rugby Pacific Fantasy, there will be unlimited transfers across the entire competition, with three boosters also available. They are the following:
- Triple Captain – Your captain will score you triple points for their next match.
- Limitless – You will have an unlimited budget for one round only.
- Co-Captains – For one round only, you will be able to select two captains to score double points.
Fantasy Rugby Championship will implement a rolling lockout mechanic whereby players will become locked as soon as their team plays in the current round.
Dan Sheehan won’t lose sleep over ban as it rules him out of games he was unlikely to play in.
From the Irish Times
Sanctioned with a wet lettuce leaf. Ireland and Lions hooker Dan Sheehan may not agree with the suspension he received following his illegal clearout of Australia’s Tom Lynagh during last Saturday’s third Test in Sydney. However, the reality is the four-week suspension handed down by World Rugby’s independent review committee is unlikely to damage his or Leinster’s start to the new United Rugby Championship (URC) season.
If Sheehan attends “tackle school” and one match is deducted – making it a three-game ban – he will be unavailable for Leinster’s pre-season clash with Cardiff on 13 September as well as away URC fixtures in South Africa against Stormers on 26 September and the Bulls on 4 October.
Leinster then play against the Sharks at home on 11 October before meeting Munster at Croke Park on 18 October. The latter match will be new Munster coach Clayton McMillan’s first taste of derby rugby in Ireland.
The strong likelihood is that Sheehan would not’ve played the pre-season friendly against the Welsh side, or have undertaken another long-haul flight to face the two South African teams given the gruelling Lions tour and physical nature of the Test matches against Australia. His suspension calls into question the purpose of sanctions if friendly matches can be included.
Hoss is on holiday so tomorrow’s news may have some facts in it.
