Since 1888, the best players from England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland have routinely contested test series in the Southern Hemisphere as part of the British & Irish Lions Tour. Now it is time for the 2025 squad to tell their own story.
The British & Irish Lions remain one of the most unique sports teams in history. Every four years, rugby players and fans across England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland settle their differences to unite in a shared passion for the team and sport.
Whether it was the boot heard around the Southern Hemisphere by Gavin Hastings in 1989, defeating reigning world champions South Africa in 1997, or the coming of age breakthrough of a 22-year-old Brian O’Driscoll in 2001, Lions Tours always seem to write their own narrative.
Alex Payne, a rugby fanatic who was moulded by these moments, shared what walking out onto the Gabba in Brisbane in 2001 meant for a 20-year-old who was making his own breakthrough within rugby broadcast media.
“My personal favourite memories of The Lions have been bookmarks to various chapters of my life,” said Payne, speaking exclusively to Insider Sport.
“I can still remember hearing while at school they’d won in 1989. I remember watching 1997, and that was really the one that lit the fuse in me, and then my favourite memory was the first tour I went on in 2001.
“I walked out onto the Gabba on one of the most famous days in Lions history as a 20-year-old kid who was an absolute rugby fanatic, and got to watch arguably the greatest Lions performance from the touch line.”
Fast-forward 24 years later, and Payne will be the lead host of Sky Sports’ exclusive coverage of the 2025 British & Irish Lions Tour to Australia yet again. He is joined by the likes of former Lions players Owen Farrell and Sam Warburton, and former coaches, such as Sir Ian McGeechan and Warren Gatland.
For Payne, the 2001 Lions Tour “lit a fuse” which drove him to want to be a part of the storytelling of rugby for years to come, but also “in a different way”.
New stories to be told
For fans of any sport, there is often a natural pull towards certain players or storylines which resonate emotionally. And the current Lions squad is no exception.
“I think when Andy Farrell and Maro Itoje step off the plane in Australia, the Wallabies are going to know that there’s a proper team there and ready for business,” said Payne, who recognises this Lions squad is one that most fans can get onboard with.
For Itoje, this Lions Tour will likely be a coming of age story for him. At 30-years old, he is the first player ever to not only be named captain of their club side (Saracens), but also his national team in England, and the The Lions all in one season.
After serving as assistant coach for the 2013 and 2017 Lions tours, Farrell also makes his ascent as the leader of the pack this year. In previous years, he has had the pleasure of his son being on the pitch, but Owen Farrell will be absent this time around.
This year’s squad is Ireland heavy – something Payne said he “loved” and hoped will provide a balance to the English captain Itoje and a different voice in the dressing room.
An age old rivalry
These stories, Payne explained, will likely be easy to tell to audiences back home, despite the 15,000km between eyes on the screen and boots on the pitch. This is largely in part to the simple fact that the British and Irish have a longstanding historical rivalry with the Australians when it comes to sport.
Whether it be rugby or cricket, the British Isles nations have regularly been embroiled in rivalry with Australia for the better part of a century. The last time The Lions went down under, they took home the spoils with a 2-1 victory over the Wallabies.
There will also be optimism amongst many of the Irish Lions players, with many being a part of Ireland’s 22-19 victory over Australia at their last meeting on home soil in Dublin on November 30, 2024.
However, Payne believes the Wallabies will be fired up in what is expected to be a “really competitive test series” and an “absolute epic”.
“It’s interesting talking about the Wallabies because I think 18 months ago, everyone was very worried we were going to have a seriously lopsided and uncompetitive series,” he said. “I think if readers and listeners haven’t been watching too much Super Rugby, it is well and truly safe to say that we are going to have an absolute epic.”
“I am expecting a really, really competitive test series, and we all know Australia loves nothing more than a collection of Brits and Irish coming down and sending them back with a tale between their legs, particularly ones when they come with high hopes.”
Birth of a new star?
A large share of this hope is currently resting on the shoulders of young 20-year old flanker Henry Pollock who burst onto the international scene this year during the Six Nations, scoring two tries on his England debut in a 68-14 thrashing against Wales.
“He is probably the most exciting thing in English rugby at the moment,” said Payne, hailing the fearlessness and youthful exuberance that will ultimately resonate with younger fans watching from home.
“Rugby needs heroes. Pollock is blasting his way through all sorts of stereotypes and concerns. He’s here to play, and here to have a great time doing it,” he said.
“I think that makes it particularly good for the younger generation. My son, who’s 12-years-old, has mates who have gone to World Book Day at school, dressed as Henry Pollock. It’s been a very long time since we’ve had rugby players of any ilk who have been that level of hero for the young guys and girls.”
Engaging the next generation – online
Garnering younger audiences is not only vital to inspire the next generation of rugby fans, but comes during a down period for the sport.
Recent findings from Ampere Analysis from an Ofcom report found younger rugby union and rugby league audience viewers dropped by 7% in 2019, followed by another drop of 5% in 2024.
While this is not just an issue for rugby – tennis is also experiencing similar declines in young people viewership – traditional broadcasters are facing having to prioritise digital and social media content, sometimes short-form, to appeal to digitally-native younger audiences.
“I am very conscious that we have got a duty to give everybody something”
Gone are the days where sports storytelling required fans to tune in on four separate Sky Sports channels to watch presenters and pundits outline the key facets of a game. Younger fans want content in real-time, all in one location, and in their preferred format.
“Content is king” says Payne, and believes capturing the imagination of the younger generations is a challenge in 2025, but a challenge they’re “very much looking forward to taking on”.
“I am very conscious that we have got a duty to give everybody something,” he said. “You can also tell different stories nowadays on different channels. You can be quite specific about how you create TikTok or Instagram content.”
“The lines are so unique, there is so much sport available now and therefore, it is harder to really capture the moment, concentration and the mind of the viewer. That is the challenge we have across a very broad demographic, but that’s the challenge we are very much looking forward to taking on.”
The on-demand, real-time demands from a new and emerging audience is a strategy Sky Sports will no doubt have in mind when it comes to preparing marketing for its coverage of the 2025 Lions Tour.
Sky Sports has renamed the Sky Sports Action channel to ‘Sky Sports The Lions’ throughout the tour, and is providing dedicated pop-up channels for fans that feature live matches, documentaries and exclusive content which will engage viewers all in the art of telling The Lions’ story.
Much of the burden of growing any sport is often shared with the relevant broadcasters, which is why Sky Sports has regularly updated its TikTok audiences on its Sky Sports News account, as well as posting YouTube content for younger viewers.
From Payne’s perspective, “you have to go to where your potential viewers are operating in order to say that make sure (they) are with us”, which will begin with the Lions’ first warm-up game against Argentina on June 20 in Dublin.
A storied partnership
With Sky Sports being the exclusive broadcaster of the Lions for the past 28 years, the sports channel will be able to lean on its footage inventory to help assist Payne and pundits like Warburton and Farrell in illustrating the importance of what it means to wear The Lions uniform.
It is telling how much faith Sky Sports has in the Lions’ unique ability to unite the UK and Ireland every four years. Despite scaling back its rugby union coverage over the past decade, including losing the rights to England Internationals and the premiership (now the Gallagher Prem) to TBT Sport in 2013, Sky has remained The Lions’ broadcaster since 1997.
It is telling the faith Sky Sports has in The Lions’ ability to continue to unite the UK and Ireland every four years, being the broadcaster since 1997, despite scaling back on its rugby union content over the past decade, which saw the rights to the newly rebranded Gallagher Prem switch to TNT Sports in 2013 and losing England international fixtures.
The team will compete in sex friendly matches ahead of their first test match, now a month away at the Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane on July 19. Sky Sports will be on hand to cover all friendly games which will serve as a testing ground for existing and developing storylines which unfold before the true tests begin.
Whether it was the the last victory in 2013 over the Wallabies, the “epic” spectacle against New Zealand which finished honours even, or the last tour in 2021 in South Africa which Payne deemed “the one that got away”, resulting in 2-1 loss, each Lions tour has had their own story to tell.
Over the next two months, Payne and the rest of the Sky Sports team will hope the 2025 Lions tour has its own unique story to tell, one that will be talked about for generations to come.
Sky Sports is the only place to watch every match of the British & Irish Lions 2025 Tour of Australia in the UK & Ireland – all three Tests and six warm-up games live from June 20 to August 2. Watch on Sky Sports or available to stream with NOW.
