British & Irish Lions Set To Play Australia-New Zealand Team In 2025

Adelaide will host one of the most famous teams in the world of rugby, when the British & Irish Lions come to Australia for the 2025 Lions tour.

South Australia has locked in the most crucial tour game the week before the first Test, bringing Australian and New Zealand rugby players together on the same team for only the second time in history.

This marquee match-up on 12 July 2025 between the Lions and an invitational team of players from Australia and New Zealand will be played at the Adelaide Oval in what is shaping up to be the unofficial “Fourth Test”.

The Tour will see the Lions play nine matches in Australia, with three Tests against the Wallabies, and six Tour games around the country – including the match in Adelaide.

The Lions have a keen travelling fanbase and the historic invitational Australia-New Zealand combined team promises to draw fans from across the ditch.

The match is expected to bring tens of thousands of visitors to South Australia from overseas and interstate.

A capacity crowd of 54,000 people is expected at the Adelaide Oval – the same venue where the Lions played in 1888 when they first visited Adelaide, on their very first tour of Australia.

The best players from England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland are selected to play for the British & Irish Lions.

Following this tour, the next opportunity to see the Lions in Australia will be 2037.

Kiwis can take advantage of the timing of the “Fourth Test” by flying non-stop to Adelaide from Auckland with Air New Zealand four times a week.

“South Australia’s iconic Adelaide Oval is the perfect setting to host the historic match on 12 July 2025, when the world-famous British & Irish Lions take on an Australia-New Zealand XV combined team in front of what is expected to a full-capacity – and highly passionate – crowd,” South Australian Tourism Commission CEO, Emma Terry said.

“We cannot wait to welcome Rugby fans from across the ditch to South Australia, so they can experience firsthand our beautiful state and how well Adelaide puts on a major international sporting event.”

Rugby Australia CEO, Phil Waugh said the British & Irish Lions Tour is a real landmark of Australian and world sport.

“Rugby Australia is looking forward to welcoming back the Lions for the first time in 12 years – as well as the tens of thousands of Lions fans from the northern hemisphere.

“It is an exciting fixture of matches all around the country with the Lions taking on our Super Rugby franchises, three massive Test matches, and a marquee match in Adelaide featuring a combined invitational Australia-New Zealand side.”

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