British & Irish Lions vs Western Force Live Updates: Australian Tour Kicks Off in Perth

Western Force 7 B&I Lions 7

They win a penalty in front of the posts for an offside from Cummings. The Force go to the corner!

TRY FORCE
NIC WHITE
As it is, the officials missed it and White snipes from close range to score. Conversion is good and we're level.

Western Force 7 Lions 7

TRY LIONS
DAN SHEEHAN
Sheehan is standing out wide to claim, popping the ball off to Lowe. His offload inside, before being tackled into touch, is brilliant. Captain for the day, Sheehan is there to take the pass and cross for the first score.

Western Force 0 Lions 7

They really aren't letting this go...

Game day in Perth and the Aussie sledging starts before kick-off. Lions players are announced in the stadium:

Mack Hansen: \"Former Aussie now Irishman\"

Sione Tuipolotu: \"Another former Aussie\"

James Lowe: \"Kiwi now Irishman\"

Pierre Schoeman: \"Former SA schoolboy now Scotland\" — Alex Lowe 📰 (@AlexMLowe) June 28, 2025

\"Hoping for a little more cohesion\" 🔗
Andy Farrell speaks ahead of the British & Irish Lions match against Western Force in Perth 🦁👇 pic.twitter.com/p99drTZmPk — Sky Sports Rugby Union (@SkySportsRugby) June 28, 2025

Of course, we have an in-depth preview of today's contest. John O'Sullivan does the honours below.

Time of reckoning for Lions as they face Western Force in first tour matchOpens in new window

Lions Head Coach Andy Farrell ahead of the match. Photograph: Dan Sheridan/Inpho

Some more pre-match listening. Tom Court isn't Ireland's most high profile Lion, but given his Australian background, scrum expertise and views on a problem position for Ireland, he is one of our more interesting.

He spoke on our rugby podcast.

Tom Court - Ireland's accidental Lion Listen | 40:32

Today marks Finn Russell's first audition for the Test 10 jersey. Safe to say he's not looking too stressed by the occasion.

🦁 Finn Russell is looking relaxed in Perth
📸 @willgkelleher pic.twitter.com/KbBBPIUmwG — Times Sport (@TimesSport) June 28, 2025

Gone are the days of local club sides, with no games ahead to be banned for, going in for the kill against the Lions, right? We think so. Don’t expect any dramatic violence on this tour, but there has been plenty on trips gone by. Johnny Watterson digs up the best of them in the below story.

From all-out brawls to eye-gouging and worse: a brief history of Lions Tour violenceOpens in new window

Ronan O'Gara of the British Lions leaves the field bleeding after an assault by Duncan McRae of the Waratahs during the Lions Tour to Australia 2001. Photograph: Dave Rogers /Allsport

The centre pairing is also fascinating. Bundee Aki and Sione Tuipulotu are skillful link men, but they are also powerful carriers. Today’s midfield pairing is more balanced, Tuipulotu’s brawn and handling combined with the running lines and defensive abilities of Garry Ringrose.

The big-bodied backfield - to an extent - has also been abandoned. Duhan van der Merwe’s power running has been replaced by James Lowe, a big runner himself but his kicking game and handling certainly adds a more rounded skill set.

Elliot Daly comes in at fullback, probably a more defensively and aerially sound option than Marcus Smith, while Tommy Freeman’s size and speed has been switched out for Mack Hansen’s playmaking.

Connacht's Mack Hansen starts at 14 for the Lions. Photograph: Inpho/Dan Sheridan

Re today, there are a number of areas worth keeping an eye on with this Lions selection. This is, after all, the first Lions Saturday game in Australia. As a player, you want to be playing on Saturdays, not Wednesdays.

With McCarthy and Cummings in the engine room, this is a beefy secondrow pairing. Add in Beirne at 6 and the Lions have three proper lineout operators after struggling to a 78 per cent success rate at that set piece last week in Dublin.

Ireland's Joe McCarthy starts today in Perth for the Lions. Photograph: Billy Stickland/Inpho

As always, there’s plenty of preview content up on irishtimes.com. For those of you of a listening persuasion, we had Belfast-born Australian-based journalist Jonathan Drennan on the podcast this week.

You here plenty of how Australian rugby is struggling these days. But not a lot on where exactly things went wrong. Drennan walks us through all the issues with a fine comb.

Will the Lions tour save Australian rugby? Listen | 48:40

Here’s how the Western Force line up. Amidst the war of wars between the Lions and Joe Schmidt about Australian squad members playing in the tour games, six Wallabies are involved tonight: Tom Robertson, Darcy Swain, Nick Champion de Crespigny, Nic White, Dylan Pietsch and Ben Donaldson.

White should be a familiar face given his time at Exeter, as should Sam Carter, the former Ulster lock who tonight plays his last game of professional rugby.

Matt Proctor has also spent some time in the northern hemisphere having played for Northampton for a few years. Alas, there is no Kurtley Beale who misses out through injury. He should, though, get the chance to avenge his 2013 penalty miss against the Lions when playing for the First Nations and Pasifika XV later in the tour.

As ever, the best place to start is with the team news. There are already plenty of Irish living in Perth and should any of them have tickets for tonight, they’ll get to watch plenty of their compatriots in the flesh.

With the Leinster contingent mostly fit and firing after being rested for the defeat to Argentina, today’s squad has a very distinctive green tinge.

Somewhat surprisingly, with Maro Itoje given a breather today, Dan Sheehan captains on his Lions debut. Tadhg Furlong joins him in the frontrow along with Scotland’s Pierre Schoeman.

Joe McCarthy is in the secondrow while Tadhg Beirne shifts to six. Josh van der Flier joins him in the backrow. Henry Pollock lining out at eight, with Jack Conan on the bench, is an intriguing selection.

James Lowe, Garry Ringrose and Connacht’s Mack Hansen are all in the backline.

Andrew Porter and Rónan Kelleher round out the Irish representation alongside Conan among the replacements.

Good morning all and welcome to our coverage of this year’s Lions tour.

Nathan Johns here to tell you what’s what as Andy Farrell and co take on the Western Force at the Optus Stadium in Perth.