Here is my strongest British & Irish Lions Test team - including four Scots in the starting XV

Farrell has big decisions to make ahead of first clash with Wallabies on July 19

The 2025 version of the British & Irish Lions will finally take to the field this Friday when they play Argentina in Dublin in a send-off game ahead of the tour of Australia.

Andy Farrell will name his team on Wednesday and the Lions head coach has much to ponder after his squad was bolstered by 15 new arrivals from the teams who were involved in play-offs finals over the weekend.

The likes of Bath’s Finn Russell and Will Stuart have joined up along with a 12-strong contingent from Leinster, the dominant side in the Lions tour party.

Sione Tuipulotu has recovered from a pectoral injury. | Getty Images

The Argentina game is not a Test match and no caps will be awarded but it should be a useful first hit out as the coaching staff try to meld their playing resources into a cohesive outfit.

The Lions are due to arrive in Australia on Sunday and will play a further five matches against regional opposition before the three-Test series begins in Brisbane next month. It should mean every player has a chance to stake a claim for selection but Farrell will already have strong ideas. This is how The Scotsman thinks they could line up in the first Test on July 19.

Back three

Blair Kinghorn is the only player yet to join the Lions squad. The Scotland full-back is still in France and could be there for another week and a half depending on Toulouse’s progress in the Top 14 play-offs. The defending champions play Bayonne in the semi-final in Lyon on Friday and are favourites to progress to the final in Paris the following Saturday. Kinghorn has not played since April 26 due to a knee injury but is on course to return for the Bayonne game.

Blair Kinghorn of Toulouse takes on Sale's Nye Thomas during the Investec Champions Cup round of 16 match. | Getty Images

All being well, Kinghorn is the favourite to wear the 15 jersey in the first Test. While he is arguably disadvantaged by missing the Argentina game and, most likely, the first match in Australia against Western Force on June 28, his form over the last two seasons for club and country puts him ahead of other full-back contenders Hugo Keenan and Elliot Daly.

The wing berths are harder to call. Duhan van der Merwe started all three Lions Tests in South Africa four years ago but Scotland’s record try-scorer has more top-class competition this time around and he has also been troubled by an ankle injury. Farrell knows all about Ireland pair James Lowe and Mack Hansen and England wing Tommy Freeman is joining the squad after an outstanding season during which he became the first Englishman to score a try in each round of a Six Nations campaign. The versatile Daly is also in the mix, but based on Six Nations form, Farrell is likely to plump for Lowe and Freeman.

Centres

Sione Tuipulotu missed the whole of the Six Nations with a pectoral injury but showed enough in two-and-a-half comeback games for Glasgow to suggest he will be back to his best soon. And Tuipulotu at his best is a fearsome prospect. The Aussie-born Scotland captain sees this tour as a chance to show the Wallabies what they’ve missed out on and it would make sense to pair him in the centre with Huw Jones. Bundee Aki and Garry Ringrose might have something to say about that but the chance to unleash the Scotland duo will be tempting for Farrell.

Glasgow Warriors' Huw Jones after being called up for the British and Irish Lions squad. | SNS Group

Half-backs

Finn Russell’s performance for Bath in the Premiership play-off final against Leicester on Saturday was a timely reminder of his abilities as a big occasion player. The Scotland stand-off was a steady hand on the tiller and kicked immaculately from the tee but he also delivered the game’s defining moment when he intercepted Handre Pollard’s pass and set up Max Ojomoh for Bath’s vital second try. Russell’s last Lions tour was interrupted by injury but he galvanised the team when he made a belated Test debut from the bench in the final game against the Springboks. It would be a major surprise if he wasn’t picked to start at 10 against the Wallabies ahead of Marcus Smith and Fin Smith, the two other fly-halves in the squad.

Finn Russell helped Bath win the Gallagher Premiership final. | PA

Ireland’s Jamison Gibson-Park deserves the nod at scrum-half. He missed Leinster’s URC final win over the Bulls through injury and continues to nurse “a minor glute strain” which led to Jack van Poortvliet being called up as cover on Tuesday. But a fit Gibson-Park would be in the box-seat to start the Tests, with either Alex Mitchell or Tomos Williams on the bench.

Front row

Loosehead prop looks like being one of the most keenly contested Lions roles. Andrew Porter is the pre-tour favourite for the Test jersey but both Ellis Genge and Pierre Schoeman will be out to disrupt that thinking. Schoeman had a fine Six Nations with ball in hand but he’ll have a job to unseat Porter.

On the other side of the scrum, Zander Fagerson looked a good bet for tighthead until a calf injury ruled him out. There are suggestions he could return mid-tour but in the meantime the door is open for Tadhg Furlong and Will Stuart to vie for the No 3 role with Finlay Bealham, who was called up to replace Fagerson. Stuart should get the nod after a strong Six Nations with England.

Ireland’s Dan Sheehan will start at hooker unless something untoward happens.

Second row

Maro Itoje, as Lions captain, is all but guaranteed a Test team starting berth but who is joining the England skipper in the second row? There are five other locks in the squad but Tadhg Beirne would appear to be out in front of James Ryan, Scott Cummings, Ollie Chessum and Joe McCarthy

Lions captain Maro Itoje alongside head coach Andy Farrell. | Getty Images

Back row

Tom Curry was a big part of England’s impressive Six Nations campaign which saw them win four games and finish second. Expect him to start at six. Wales have been conspicuous by their absence in this team thus far but Jac Morgan is in with a shout at seven but he’ll have to battle it out with Ben Earl. In the absence of the injured Caelan Doris, his Ireland team-mate Jack Conan would appear the front-runner to be Test No 8.

The Scotsman’s Lions Test team: B Kinghorn (Sco); T Freeman (Eng), H Jones (Sco), S Tuipulotu (Sco), J Lowe (Ire); F Russell (Sco), J Gibson-Park (Ire); A Porter (Ire), D Sheehan (Ire), W Stuart (Eng), M Itoje (Eng), T Beirne (Ire), T Curry (Eng), J Morgan (Wal), J Conan (Ire).