An armada of thousands are preparing to make the pilgrimage Down Under to support the Lions – but the fun won’t be limited to those in Australia.
Rugby Confidential can reveal the revolutionary approach to rugby coverage that Sky Sports viewers will be treated to when Lions matches become a staple of Saturday and Wednesday mornings over the next seven weeks.
From augmented reality and data to a helping hand from Monday Night Football and ‘Miss Miggins’, Sky Sports are throwing everything into this summer’s tour, which kicks off on Friday night in Dublin against Argentina before the Lions head to Australia.
We went behind the scenes at their Isleworth base for a sneak preview of what they have lined up.
As the lights go up in the Monday Night Football studio, for once it’s not David Jones, Gary Neville and Jamie Carragher in situ.
Instead, their positions are filled by a trio of Lions rugby icons in Sam Warburton, Dan Biggar and Will Greenwood. As big football fans of Tottenham, Manchester United and Manchester City respectively, these three aren’t totally out of place.
Dan Biggar, the Lions Test fly-half last time out, will head the Sky Sports coverage
Biggar is joined by his former Wales team-mate Sam Warburton, a two-time Lions captain
Will Greenwood is a veteran of three Lions tours at the turn of the century
‘I’m usually watching Neville and Carragher stood here on my TV saying how c**p United are,’ laughs Wales No 10 great and Mail Sport columnist Biggar. ‘Hopefully, I won’t have to be saying how c**p the Lions are in the weeks to come!’ So too will Andy Farrell and his players.
Sam Foskett, senior programme director at Sky Sports, has worked on each of their Lions tours since 1997.
‘The Lions is absolutely huge for us. It’s a 28-year partnership,’ he told Rugby Confidential. ‘We throw everything at it at Sky. For us, it’s up there with the Super Bowl and the Masters – it’s that big.
‘It’s an absolute premier sporting event. There is no doubt this will be our biggest and best Lions tour ever in terms of the coverage we’re delivering.
‘Adding this state-of-the-art studio to our offering means we think we will provide something even better to our viewers. Broadcasting is all about trying to do it better than before. We are constantly trying to innovate.’
The cutting-edge technology available in the Monday Night Football studio allows for the use of augmented reality graphics of players, coaches and statistical panels to be projected on to the screen. This has become commonplace in Premier League football coverage, but not in rugby. Until now.
‘We had just one satellite feed from the 1997 tour in South Africa and the studio used for that tour no longer exists,’ said Foskett. ‘For the Test matches this year, we’ll have over 20 different satellite feeds coming in via fibre, which means there’s no delay. The pictures are instant.
‘Sky’s Monday Night Football studio is the best sports studio on the planet. The augmented reality graphics allow us to tell a deeper story and we’re using Oval Insights for our instant analysis tools.
Warburton and Co will be able to use the augmented reality graphics employed by Monday Night Football
Sky are confident their studio is the best in the world and will provide a revolutionary level of rugby coverage this summer
‘Oval Insights are the world-leading rugby stats providers. They allow us to delve deeper into the numbers. For example, it’s not just about the number of carries or tackles. It’s whether those carries or tackles are dominant or not.
‘For the first time, we’re going to have Lions player rankings. We’ve developed them over the last two seasons and got data from every single top-flight match around the world. That means, for example, we can compare different fly-halves.
‘It’s not just core rugby fans who watch the Lions, so we want to make our coverage as insightful as possible.’
Three-time Lions head coach Warren Gatland will be a leading figure on Sky’s tour coverage while Owen Farrell, who played six Lions Tests from 2013 to 2021, will be a notable on-screen presence at the Argentina game in Dublin, his first taste of punditry.
Joining them on Sky’s team are legendary four-time Lions head coach Sir Ian McGeechan, Ronan O’Gara (2001, 2005 and 2009), Kyle Sinckler (2017 and 2021) and Conor Murray (2013, 2017 and 2021), plus 76-cap former Scotland back-rower John Barclay and Nolli Waterman, who won 82 caps for the Red Roses.
The Sky Sports Action channel will rebrand as Sky Sports The Lions for each Test weekend, with Miles Harrison Sky’s match commentator. And it’s on the question of punditry where the fated Miss Miggins comes in.
‘I had a really good bit of advice when I first started doing punditry,’ said Warburton. ‘When the red light goes on, think of Miss Miggins. If Miss Miggins is tuning in, you have to make sure she understands your coverage. When I go on air for the big games now, I always bear that in mind.
‘Lions games can be watched by a seven-figure audience. You don’t want to dumb things down too much, but you also have to appeal to everyone.
Greenwood is now one of the most respected pundits in the game after an illustrious career that was capped by winning the 2003 World Cup
Biggar will be able to bring a host of insights from his Lions tours as a player
Warburton, a keen Monday Night Football fan, has a few techniques to ensure he meets the audience’s needs
‘I played a lot of football growing up and I love it. But when I watch Neville on Sky, I think to myself: “Blimey, I didn’t know that”. That’s what I want to try and do in rugby.’
Warburton will be a regular presence in Sky’s London studio throughout the tour. The Australia warm-up games will be presented from the United Kingdom, before heading Down Under for the Tests, which begin on July 19 in Brisbane.
Biggar was the Lions’ Test fly-half on the last tour, in South Africa in 2021, when the Springboks ran out 2-1 winners.
‘Seeing how big the Sky operation is for this Lions series, it does make me proud to be selected,’ he said. ‘It’s similar in some ways to being selected to go and play for the Lions. Sky do big moments in sport so well. I grew up with Sky Sports in my house, so it’s surreal for me to be working for them now.
‘Four years ago, I was playing at the pinnacle – a Lions Test series. Now, I’m on the scrapheap! I’m joking, but you can either whinge about not being a player, or you can move on and try and add value to the game in another way.
‘That’s what I want to do. I’m glad the tour is this summer and not 12 months ago because Joe Schmidt has done a great job in getting Australia up to speed.
‘Had the tour been 12 months ago, I think it could have been a procession. Now, I think it’s going to be a lot tighter. I think the Lions will be too strong. I like the look of the squad. I think the Lions will win 2-1.’
Warburton added: ‘I just feel privileged to still be involved. When you’re a player, you don’t really see the media circus that goes with the Lions. You’re in your own little world.
Also on Sky’s punditry team are former Lions head coaches Warren Gatland and Sir Ian McGeechan
Ronan O’Gara brings 128 Ireland caps, two Lions Tests and his time as head coach of La Rochelle to the studio
Kyle Sinckler has played in the last six Lions Tests and will be a key voice for Sky this year
‘Being this side of the fence now is an honour. Every single player or coach who has played for the Lions will tell you the same. We have to do everything we possibly can to protect the Lions. It’s such a unique and amazing concept.
‘If the Lions went, it would be an absolute disaster. It’s just brilliant for rugby. It has to be one of the game’s biggest priorities. Long live the Lions!’
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 stream on NOW TV.
Get your greens in, Aled
Lions strength and conditioning coach Aled Walters is known throughout the rugby world as a mad-cap, energetic figure.
But the latest antics of the former South Africa and England and now Ireland assistant were still cause surprise.
At the Lions’ training camp in Portugal last week, Walters was taking the team’s official video channel through their luxurious facilities at the campus training base in Quinta do Lago.
Emphasising how good the pitch on the Algarve was, Walters described it as ‘like a carpet’ before bizarrely smelling and then tasting the grass.
‘It tastes great,’ Walters said.
Lions strength and conditioning coach and former England assistant Aled Walters is known throughout the rugby world as a mad-cap, energetic figure
Barmy Barbeary apes Goode
Maverick Bath No 8 Alfie Barbeary has continued his team’s treble celebration party in Ibiza in his new trademark outfit of Budgy Smugglers and loafers.
After Johann van Graan’s side sealed the Premiership title at Twickenham last weekend, Barbeary led the open-top bus parade around Bath in nothing but a pair of swimming trunks, white socks and black shoes. He also waved a huge Bath flag.
While Bath’s Finn Russell and Will Stuart are now on Lions duty and the club’s England and Wales internationals are in camp with their countries, the likes of Barbeary, Tom de Glanville and Miles Reid have headed to the Spanish island to carry on drinking.
Barbeary has stayed consistent with his outfit both at home and abroad, bringing back memories of Alex Goode, who celebrated one of his title wins with Saracens by staying in full matchday kit for days on end.
Alfie Barbeary parties with Tom de Glanville at the Rec after Bath’s victory parade
Barbeary poses with fans dressed in his famous afro and moustache after beating Leicester
Welsh tricks to take down Japan
Wales’ players have prepared to face Eddie Jones’ Japan by training with balls covered in soapy water and doing fitness work in heat chambers touching 40 degrees.
The team are on a horror run of 17 consecutive Test defeats and are desperate to end that sequence in the Far East against a Brave Blossoms team coached by former England head coach Jones. Wales, in 12th, sit just one place above Japan in the world rankings.
Wales are expecting gruelling temperatures and humidity for their two Japan Tests, on July 5 in Kitakyushu and July 12 in Kobe. So, they are preparing accordingly at their Vale of Glamorgan training base.
Harlequins boss Danny Wilson, part of Wales’ coaching staff this summer, employed similar tactics when he worked with Scotland at the 2019 World Cup in Japan.
