The British & Irish Lions is a rugby union team selected from players eligible for the national teams of England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. The Lions are a test side and most often select players who have already played for their national team, although they can pick uncapped players who are eligible for any of the four unions. Since 1989, the team has toured every four years, with these rotating between Australia, New Zealand and South Africa in order. The Lions most recently toured Australia in 2025 and won the test series 2–1.
From 1888 onwards, combined British rugby sides visited countries in the Southern Hemisphere. The first tour was a commercial venture, undertaken without official backing. The next six visits enjoyed a growing degree of support from the rugby authorities, before the 1910 South Africa tour, which was the first tour representative of the four Home Unions. In 1949, the four Home Unions formally created a Tours Committee and for the first time, every player of the 1950 Lions squad had played internationally before the tour. From the 1950s, tours saw the Lions winning many of the provincial games, but the test series were generally lost or drawn. The series wins in 1971 (New Zealand) and 1974 (South Africa) interrupted this pattern. The last tour of the amateur era took place in 1993. The Lions have also played occasional matches in the Northern Hemisphere either as one-off exhibitions or before a tour.
Naming and symbols Name The Shaw and Shrewsbury team first played in 1888 and is considered the precursor of the British & Irish Lions. It was then primarily English in composition but also contained players from Scotland and Wales. Later the team used the name British Isles. On their 1950 tour of New Zealand and Australia they officially adopted the name British Lions, the nickname first used by British and South African journalists on the 1924 South African tour after the lion emblem on their ties, the emblem on their jerseys having been dropped in favour of the four-quartered badge with the symbols of the four represented unions.
When the team first emerged in the 19th century, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was one single state. The team continued after the Irish Free State was set up in 1922, but was still known as the British Lions or British Isles. The name "British & Irish Lions" has been used since the 2001 tour of Australia. The team is often referred to simply as the Lions.
Anthem As the Lions represent four rugby unions, which cover two sovereign states, they do not currently have a national anthem. For the 1989 tour, the British national anthem "God Save the Queen" was used. For the 2005 tour to New Zealand, the Lions management commissioned a song, "The Power of Four", although it was met with little support among Lions fans at the matches and has not been used since.
Colours and strip For more than half a century, the Lions have worn a red jersey that sports the amalgamated crests of the four unions. Prior to 1950 the strip went through a number of significantly different formats.
Unsanctioned tours In 1888, the promoter of the first expedition to Australia and New Zealand, Arthur Shrewsbury, demanded "something that would be good material and yet take them by storm out here". The result was a jersey in thick red, white and blue hoops, worn above white shorts and dark socks. The tours to South Africa in 1891 and 1896 retained the red, white and blue theme but this time as red and white hooped jerseys and dark blue shorts and socks. The 1899 trip to Australia saw a reversion to red, white and blue jerseys, but with the blue used in thick hoops and the red and white in thin bands. The shorts remained blue, as did the socks although a white flash was added to the latter. The one-off test in 1999 between England and Australia that was played to commemorate Australia's first test against Reverend Matthew Mullineux's British side saw England wear an updated version of this jersey. In 1903, the South Africa tour followed on from the 1896 tour, with red and white hooped jerseys. The slight differences were that the red hoops were slightly thicker than the white (the opposite was true in 1896), and the white flash on the socks introduced in 1899 was partially retained. The Australia tour of 1904 saw exactly the same kit as in 1899. In 1908, with the Scottish and Irish unions not taking part, the Anglo-Welsh side sported red jerseys with a thick white band on tour to Australia and New Zealand. Blue shorts were retained, but the socks were for the first time red, with a white flash.
Blue jerseys, the Lions named and the crest adopted
The Scots were once again involved in Tom Smyth's 1910 team to South Africa. Thus, dark blue jerseys were introduced with white shorts and the red socks of 1908. The jerseys also had a single lion-rampant crest. The 1924 tour returned to South Africa, retaining the blue jerseys but now with shorts to match. It is the 1924 tour that is credited as being the first in which the team were referred to as "the Lions", the irony being that it was on this tour that the single lion-rampant crest was replaced with the forerunner of the four-quartered badge with the symbols of the four represented unions, that is still worn today. Although the lion had been dropped from the jersey, the players had worn the lion motif on their ties as they arrived in South Africa, which led the press and public referring to them as "the Lions".
The unofficial 1927 Argentina tour used the same kit and badge, and three heraldic lions returned as the jersey badge in 1930. This was the tour to New Zealand where the tourists' now standard blue jerseys caused some controversy. The convention in rugby is for the home side to accommodate its guests when there is a clash of kit. The New Zealand side, by then already synonymous with the appellation "All Blacks", had an all black kit that clashed with the Lions' blue. After much reluctance and debate New Zealand agreed to change for the Tests and New Zealand played in all white for the first time. On the 1930 tour a delegation led by the Irish lock George Beamish expressed their displeasure at the fact that while the blue of Scotland, white of England and red of Wales were represented in the strip there was no green for Ireland. A green flash was added to the socks, which from 1938 became a green turnover (although on blue socks thus eliminating red from the kit), and that has remained a feature of the strip ever since. In 1936, the four-quartered badge returned for the tour to Argentina and has remained on the kits ever since, but other than that the strip remained the same.
Red jerseys The adoption of the red jersey happened in the 1950 tour. A return to New Zealand was accompanied by a desire to avoid the controversy of 1930 and so red replaced blue for the jersey with the resultant kit being that which is still worn today, the combination of red jersey, white shorts and green and blue socks, representing the four unions.Lions name is a source of great pride The Times 19 June 2009 The only additions to the strip since 1950 began appearing in 1993, with the addition of kit suppliers logos in prominent positions. Umbro had in 1989 asked for "maximum brand exposure whenever possible" but this did not affect the kit's appearance. Since then, Nike, Adidas and Canterbury have had more overt branding on the shirts, with sponsors Scottish Provident (1997), NTL (2001), Zurich (2005), HSBC (2009 and 2013), Standard Life Investments (2017), Vodafone (2021) and Howden (2025).
Kit suppliers and shirt sponsors + British & Irish Lions kitsTourKit manufacturerShirt sponsorTour DestinationAmateur Era1983 - -New Zealand1989 - -Australia1993Nike -New ZealandProfessional Era1997 AdidasScottish ProvidentSouth Africa2001Ntl:Australia2005ZurichNew Zealand2009 HSBCSouth Africa2013Australia2017CanterburyStandard Life InvestmentsNew Zealand2021VodafoneSouth Africa2025Howden InsuranceAustralia
Jersey evolution
Squad
2025 Australia Tour SquadProps Finlay Bealham Tom Clarkson Zander Fagerson Tadhg Furlong Ellis Genge Andrew Porter Pierre Schoeman Will Stuart Rory Sutherland
Hookers Ewan Ashman Luke Cowan-Dickie Jamie George Rónan Kelleher Dan SheehanLocks Tadhg Beirne Gregor Brown Ollie Chessum Scott Cummings Maro Itoje (c) Joe McCarthy James Ryan
Back row Jack Conan Tom Curry Ben Earl Jac Morgan Henry Pollock Josh van der Flier
Scrum-halves Jamison Gibson-Park Alex Mitchell Ben White Tomos WilliamsFly-halves Owen Farrell Finn Russell Fin Smith Marcus Smith
Centres Bundee Aki Huw Jones Jamie Osborne Garry Ringrose Sione Tuipulotu
Back three Elliot Daly Tommy Freeman Darcy Graham Mack Hansen Hugo Keenan Blair Kinghorn James Lowe Duhan van der Merwe (c) denotes tour captain; Players in bold are previous tourists; Players in italics are injury withdrawals.
History
1888–1909
The earliest tours date back to 1888, when a 21-man squad visited Australia and New Zealand. The squad drew players from England, Scotland and Wales, though English players predominated. The 35-match tour of two host nations included no tests, but the side played provincial, city and academic sides, winning 27 matches. They played 19 games of Australian rules football, against prominent clubs in Victoria and South Australia, winning six and drawing one of these (see Australian rules football in England).
The first tour, although unsanctioned by rugby bodies, established the concept of Northern Hemisphere sporting sides touring to the Southern Hemisphere. Three years after the first tour, the Western Province union invited rugby bodies in Britain to tour South Africa. Some saw the 1891 team – the first sanctioned by the Rugby Football Union – as the England national team, though others referred to it as "the British Isles". The tourists played a total of twenty matches, three of them tests. The team also played the regional side of South Africa (South Africa did not exist as a political unit in 1891), winning all three matches. In a notable event of the tour, the touring side presented the Currie Cup to Griqualand West, the province they thought produced the best performance on the tour.
Five years later a British Isles side returned to South Africa. They played one extra match on this tour, making the total of 21 games, including four tests against South Africa, with the British Isles winning three of them. The squad had a notable Irish orientation, with the Ireland national team contributing six players to the 21-man squad.
In 1899 the British Isles touring side returned to Australia for the first time since the unofficial tour of 1888. The squad of 23 for the first time ever had players from each of the home nations. The team again participated in 21 matches, playing state teams as well as northern Queensland sides and Victorian teams. A four-test series took place against Australia, the tourists winning three out of the four. The team returned via Hawaii and Canada playing additional games en route.
Four years later, in 1903, the British Isles team returned to South Africa. The opening performance of the side proved disappointing from the tourists' point of view, with defeats in its opening three matches by Western Province sides in Cape Town. From then on the team experienced mixed results, though more wins than losses. The side lost the test series to South Africa, drawing twice, but with the South Africans winning the decider 8 to nil.