Ireland coach Andy Farrell set to lead British and Irish Lions Down Under in 2025

The Englishman, who has been on two tours, in 2013 and 2017, is set to be confirmed as the next honcho for the 2025 edition.

According to the Daily Mail, Farrell will be announced at a press conference next week, which will take place in London.

The 48-year-old has been heavily linked with the Lions role after guiding Ireland to number one in the world and winning the Six Nations Grand Slam in 2023.

They exited the Rugby World Cup at the quarter-final stage, but that has not harmed Farrell's chances.

He recently signed a new deal with the Irish Rugby Football Union, who are willing to let their head coach lead the tour to Australia.

"We'd be ecstatic if Andy was named coach of the Lions so hopefully that accolade is the next one for him and we'd be more than comfortable with how [we] deal with it," IRFU performance director David Nucifora said last month.

"As far as the period of time he might be away from us, that's still something I think can be discussed if this happens."

Farrell will take over the responsibility from Warren Gatland, who has been in charge of the past three tours in 2013, 2017 and 2021.

"I think Andy is an outstanding coach," Nucifora added. "His man-management skills are second to none. His ability to get the best out of staff and players, the way he brings the group together, gets people on the same page but with the ability to constantly challenge people to improve and better themselves.

"I think that skill set, he's obviously got the rugby intellect, but he also has the softer skills you need to be able to get the best out of people.

"That's not easy to find someone who has that all-round set of skills that you need at this level of the game. So we're very fortunate to have him."

The Ireland head coach began his career in rugby league and became a legendary player of the 13-a-side code before switching to rugby union.

He represented England at the 2007 Rugby World Cup, but retired two years later and decided to go into coaching, firstly with Saracens as their defence guru.

Farrell's talents were immediately obvious and the Red Rose soon came calling, but he departed after their 2015 World Cup disaster and has been in the Irish system ever since.

The 48-year-old was initially an assistant under Joe Schmidt but took over as head coach after the New Zealander left at the end of the 2019 global tournament.

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