Lions to face indigenous-heritage team in Australia

Dylan Pietsch, a Wiradjuri Burray man and Australia international, started in the Wallabies' 42-37 win over England this month

The British and Irish Lions are in line to take on a team made up of players with indigenous Australian and Pacific Islands heritage as part of their tour of Australia next summer.

The tourists were supposed to play the Melbourne Rebels on 22 July, but the Super Rugby team have gone into administration since the fixtures were announced in July 2023.

Rugby Australia chief executive Phil Waugh said he hoped to attract box-office names for the fixture.

"We have some great talent with First Nations heritage," he told the Sydney Morning Herald. "So it was a matter of how do we will pull those ideas together to make a very special game in a massive tour?

"The preference will be to have Australian-eligible players of Pacific and First Nations backgrounds, and high-profile players to drive a high level of interest."

Veteran back Kurtley Beale, who played against the Lions in 2013 and is currently recovering from an Achilles tendon injury, Fijian-born Marika Koroibete, who missed out on Wallabies selection this autumn, and fellow wing Dylan Pietsch, whose artwork will feature on the Australia jersey during the tour, could all be contenders to play.

Waugh has also confirmed he is pursuing New Zealand internationals who are playing their club rugby abroad, and are therefore ineligible for All Black selection, for a trans-Tasman 'Anzac' team, combining both Australian and Kiwi players, who play the Lions on 12 July.

While Waugh did not specify names, Richie Mo'unga and Shannon Frizell, who both started the 2023 Rugby World Cup final for New Zealand, are in Test exile as they ply their trade in Japan.

Scrum-half Aaron Smith, who retired from international rugby after the tournament, is also playing in the country’s Rugby League One.

"There are conversations beginning," Waugh said. "We certainly want to get some high-profile Kiwi players, and given France are in New Zealand then, the sensible place to test some conversations would be the New Zealand players who are offshore. We are starting to engage with some clubs and players."

Beale missed a potentially match-winning kick in the first Test of the 2013 series, with his standing foot slipping on the Suncorp Stadium turf in Brisbane

Rugby Australia have predicted that the Lions’ nine matches Down Under will be the best-attended tour ever, with more than 500,000 watching in person.

Strong ticket sales have been fuelled by the Wallabies' winning start to their northern hemisphere tour this month.

Victories over England and Wales have set up the prospect of a first 'Grand Slam' tour in 40 years, if they can beat Scotland and Ireland on 24 and 30 November respectively.