Sam Warburton’s shock calls at fly-half and flank as Wales legend reveals his British and Irish Lions 23
Sam Warburton has picked his British and Irish Lions 23.
Former Wales captain Sam Warburton has made several surprising selections in his British & Irish Lions 23 to tackle Australia in 2025.
Andy Farrell will take over as head coach of the touring team from Warren Gatland and is set to go toe-to-toe with his former boss, Joe Schmidt, who took over as the Wallabies boss this year.
With just under a year to go before the first Test, Warburton has revealed who he would select in the matchday 23.
More English than Irish
The 2013 and 2017 Lions captain has picked six England players, five Ireland players, three Scotland players and just one Wales player in his starting XV.
Scotland and Toulouse star Blair Kinghorn is joined by Tommy Freeman and Duhan van der Merwe in the back three, with Sione Tuipulotu and Robbie Henshaw in the centres.
Jamison Gibson-Park and Marcus Smith are Warburton’s picks in the half-backs. The former flanker selected Jac Morgan as his starting number seven, with Ben Earl at eight and Ollie Chessum at blindside.
Surprisingly, Warburton has picked Maro Itoje on the bench. George Martin and Joe McCarthy are favoured as the starting locks, and the front-row consists of Tadhg Furlong, Dan Sheehan, and Ellis Genge.
Wales rookie Archie Griffin is another interesting call from Warburton as the reserve tighthead prop. Fellow Wales teammate Dewi Lake is backed as the reserve hooker – Andrew Porter is his reserve loosehead prop.
Ireland number eight Caelan Doris takes the final forward bench place, with Alex Mitchell, Finn Russell and Immanuel Feyi-Waboso being Warburton’s backline replacement picks.
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Carries key for Warburton
“I am selecting players who did not feature this summer, but I am also drawing on my experience of the 2013 tour there,” Warburton wrote in his Times column.
“I know that the general handling ability of players has improved a lot since then, but I am picking the side that will stay true to the words of head coach Warren Gatland, who said back in 2013: ‘We have to batter them up front.'”
He believes that the front-row he selected “are the best three carrying front-rowers available”.
He added: “In the second-row I’ve gone with two big enforcers, George Martin and Joe McCarthy. These two always have a massive impact on any game. They provide serious weight in the scrum and they can both lineout jump and lift.”
Chessum is the man Warburton would entrust with calling the lineouts for the Lions and commenting on the pick at seven; he believes that no other player has been as good as Morgan.
“I know he didn’t play this summer, but I have not seen anyone over the past 18 months play as well as him when he has been at his best,” he explained.
“It was a tight one at number eight, because I think you’ve got three great eights at the minute. Wainwright played extremely well in the summer. Caelan Doris is obviously Ireland’s captain, but I’ve gone for Ben Earl. He is simply world class and because Chessum is at six you do not have to worry about him and Morgan not being particularly tall men.”
In the backs, the Welsh legend said that Van der Merwe edges James Lowe for his ability to ‘pull a rabbit out of the hat’ while adding that it was a ‘toss-up’ between Tuipulotu and Ollie Lawrence for the number 12 jumper with Bundee Aki as a contender.
“I like Hugo Keenan but I just think Kinghorn has just gone to another level at Toulouse this year,” he wrote.
“As for the bench the hardest call was the lock-cum-flanker position, with Tadhg Beirne and a host of others as possibilities, but I had to go with Maro Itoje there. He had a fine tour to New Zealand and was unlucky not to make my starting line-up.”
On the shock pick of Griffin, who debuted for Wales this July, Warburton wrote: “I’m not sure we [Wales] have ever had a tighthead prop who carries as well as Griffin”
Sam Warburton’s British and Irish Lions 23
Starting XV: 15 Blair Kinghorn, 14 Tommy Freeman, 13 Robbie Henshaw, 12 Sione Tuipulotu, 11 Duhan van der Merwe, 10 Marcus Smith, 9 Jamison Gibson-Park, 8 Ben Earl, 7 Jac Morgan, 6 Ollie Chessum, 5 Joe McCarthy, 4 George Martin, 3 Tadhg Furlong, 2 Dan Sheehan, 1 Ellis Genge
Replacements: 16 Dewi Lake, 17 Andrew Porter, 18 Archie Griffin, 19 Maro Itoje, 20 Caelan Doris, 21 Alex Mitchell, 22 Finn Russell, 23 Immanuel Feyi-Waboso
