Andy Farrell makes shock Lions appointment with England coach selected in Ireland-heavy group as backroom staff ‘leaked’
British & Irish Lions head coach Andy Farrell has named his coaching team.
British & Irish Lions head coach Andy Farrell will unveil his coaching team for this summer’s tour of Australia, with the official announcement on Wednesday morning.
Current Ireland interim head coach Simon Easterby is set to be confirmed as defence coach of the elite group, with John Fogarty taking the role of scrum coach and Englishman Richard Wigglesworth joining up alongside the Irish contingent.
Easterby filled in the hole left by Farrell, who took a sabbatical year with the Lions, leading Ireland to a third-place finish in the Six Nations Championship.
Ireland-heavy backroom team
After a disappointing campaign, he will move into the Lions coaching setup with former British & Irish Lion and Ireland international Paul O’Connell plugging the gap as interim head coach for the nation’s summer Tests against Georgia and Portugal.
Despite Ireland’s subpar performance in the Six Nations, it can’t be argued that this coaching group haven’t been successful at Test level, winning the Grand Slam in 2023 and reaching the number one ranking in the world.
Easterby has been a part of Farrell‘s coaching setup at Ireland since 2019 having switched from forwards to defence coach in 2021, with the pair overseeing some of the nation’s greatest performances.
In addition, he has British & Irish Lions tour experience as a player having been on the 2005 tour of New Zealand after he was called up as cover for Lawrence Dallaglio – he played two Tests, scoring in the second one in Wellington.
Before Fogarty’s tenure as the Irish scrum coach, he held the same role for Leinster from 2015. Easterby also earned one cap for Ireland in 2010 and wore the green jersey in a Test against the All Blacks.
The IRFU were asked about Easterby and Fogarty’s inclusion in the coaching setup last weekend and a spokesperson stated: “At this point, we have no comment to make.”
But The Irish Times have reported that both are set to be confirmed in Farrell’s press conference in London on Wednesday morning.
Wigglesworth to be named
BBC Sport have reported that England head coach Steve Borthwick was approached regarding the availability of Wigglesworth and has seemingly approved the proposition with him adding the latest job on his rapidly growing CV having only retired from Leicester Tigers in 2022.
Until his reported addition, Ireland seemed to be the theme with the first game of the 2025 tour against Argentina in Dublin on June 20 – the other home nations will be hoping it’s not an all-Irish party with the Lions squad announcement at the O2 Arena in front of 2000 fans on the May 8.
The squad will then travel down under to Australia where they will play nine fixtures including three blockbuster Test matches against the Wallabies in Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney.
