‘Top trolling’ as cheeky stadium announcer pokes fun at British & Irish Lions
British and Irish Lions players Sione Tuipulotu and Mack Hansen.
The Western Force stadium announcer took a light-hearted swipe at the British and Irish Lions players ahead of the clash in Perth on Saturday.
Andy Farrell’s touring squad includes several players who were born and raised in the Southern Hemisphere, and while that has drawn criticism from some, the stadium announcer took a more humorous dig when naming the teams prior to kick-off.
“Former Aussie”
The first victim of the dig was Lions winger Mack Hansen, who was born and raised in Australia before making the move from the Brumbies to Connacht in 2021 and qualified for Ireland through his Cork-born mother.
“Our former Aussie at No. 14, Mack Hansen,” they said as they announced the visiting team before moving on to the other foreign-born stars in the matchday squad.
“Another Aussie at No. 12, Sione Tuipulotu. At No.11, it’s the Kiwi now Irishman, James Lowe.
“At prop, the former SA schoolboy now Scotsman, Pierre Schoeman.”
The dig from the announcer did not go unnoticed with Daily Mail UK rugby correspondent Nik Simon dubbing the joke as ‘top trolling’ on social media platform X, with his post accompanied by salt shakers.
Top trolling from the Australian team announcer in Perth 🧂🧂🧂
‘The Aussie at No 14, Mack Hansen.’
‘Another Aussie at No 12, Sione Tuipulotu.’
‘At No 11, the Kiwi now Irishman, James Lowe.’
‘At prop, the former SA schoolboy now Scotsman, Pierre Schoeman.’
— Nik Simon (@Nik_Simon88) June 28, 2025
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Outside of the aforementioned quartet, Farrell has also included Australian-born prop Finlay Bealham in his squad – who was brought in as a replacement for the injured Zander Fagerson – as well as New Zealanders Jamison Gibson-Park and Bundee Aki and Duhan van der Merwe from South Africa.
The taunt from the announcer also came off the back of Wallabies boss Joe Schmidt clarifying comments he made on Tuipulotu and Aki ahead of the Lions’ clash with Argentina.
Schmidt was seen as taking a swipe at the duo when he remarked “a southern-hemisphere centre partnership”, however, he told the Sydney Morning Herald that it was a ‘sloppy’ choice of words and wasn’t intended to be a ‘swipe or a jibe at all’.
READ MORE: Joe Schmidt addresses ‘swipe’ at British and Irish Lions foreign-born stars
