Friday night's international rugby sees the British and Irish Lions warm up for their tour of Australia with a clash against Argentina in Dublin
British and Irish Lions v Argentina, Friday 20th June, Dublin, KO 21:00 (South African time)
Referee: James Doleman (New Zealand)
Assistant Referees: Nika Amashukeli (Georgia), Andrea Piardi (Italy)
TMO: Eric Gauzins (France)
Weather Forecast – Dublin
British and Irish Lions:
Andy Farrell coaches the B&I Lions and he has named Maro Itoje as his skipper. Following on from a training camp in Portugal this is the final prep before they head off to Australia where they will play a number of games against provincial sides before the first of 3 test matches against the Wallabies takes place on the 19th July.
Looking ahead to the betting for the Lions tour of Australia Farrell's side are 1/3 favourites to win that series with the Wallabies trading at 5/2 and a draw is 28/1. A Lions 3-0 clean sweep of the series is 5/4 favourite in the correct score market whilst a 2-1 Lions win is the next shortest price at 1.85/1.
Back in 2021 the B&I Lions toured South Africa and although they won the first test they went on to lose the series 2-1. They won their warm up for that tour 28-10 against Japan.
Argentina:
Argentina return to action for the first time since the 2024 end of year internationals. Their results in that series included a 50-18 win in Italy, a 22-19 defeat in Ireland and a 37-23 loss in France.
Prior to that Argentina's Rugby Championship campaign comprised of vastly contrasting results. They started by turning the All Blacks over in New Zealand 38-30 but a round later they lost to the same opponent 42-10. They returned home to be edged out by Australia 20-19 and then hammered the Wallabies 67-27 next time out. Another home fixture saw Los Pumas edge out the Springboks 29-28 which kept them in with a slim chance of landing the title heading into the final round. However the return with the Boks in South Africa was a one sided contest and Los pumas were thumped 48-7.
In July 2024 Los Pumas came up against France and honours were once again even as they lost the first test 28-13 and won the second 33-25.
Team News
British and Irish Lions: 15 Marcus Smith, 14 Tommy Freeman, 13 Sione Tuipulotu, 12 Bundee Aki, 11 Duhan van der Merwe, 10 Fin Smith, 9 Alex Mitchell, 8 Ben Earl, 7 Jac Morgan, 6 Tom Curry, 5 Tadhg Beirne, 4 Maro Itoje (captain), 3 Finlay Bealham, 2 Luke Cowan-Dickie, 1 Ellis Genge.
Replacements: 16 Ronan Kelleher, 17 Pierre Schoeman, 18 Tadhg Furlong, 19 Scott Cummings, 20 Henry Pollock, 21 Tomos Williams, 22 Elliot Daly, 23 Mack Hansen
Argentina: 15 Santiago Carreras, 14 Rodrigo Isgro, 13 Lucio Cinti, 12, Justo Piccardo, 11 Ignacio Mendy, 10 Tomas Albornoz, 9 Gonzalo Garcia, 8 Joaquin Oviedo, 7 Juan Martin Gonzalez, 6 Pablo Matera, 5 Pedro Rubiolo, 4 Franco Molina, 3 Joel Sclavi, 2 Julian Montoya (captain), 1 Mayco Vivas.
Replacements: 16 Bautista Bernasconi, 17 Boris Wenger, 18 Francisco Marchetti Coria, 19 Santiago Grondona, 20 Joaquin Moro, 21 Simon Benitez Cruz, 22 Matias Moroni, 23 Santiago Cordero
The Betting
Average early show, subject to change
British and Irish Lions -17.5 points at 9/10
Argentina +17.5 points at 9/10
Note, odds quoted are available at the time of writing but are subject to change.
Betting Angle
to follow
Bet: to follow
Note, odds quoted are available at the time of writing but are subject to change.
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