BRISBANE, Australia (AP) — A huge economic boost, 40,000 British and Irish visitors in a swathe of red supporter gear, and the combined rugby might of four countries set to take on Australia.
The 10-match British and Irish Lions tour — a once-every-12-year occasion for Australia — kicks off next month and local organizers are already primed for the influx of rugby-loving visitors from England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales.
The first of three test matches is 50 days away, in Brisbane on July 19. The second test is scheduled for July 26 in Melbourne and the third in Sydney on Aug. 2.
“The Lions is something that tends to reach beyond just the rugby union fans,” Australia head coach Joe Schmidt said during a visit Friday to Suncorp Stadium, "because it’s such an infrequent tour, people just get interested and we’d love to earn the support of all those folk by being really competitive.
“I’d love to think we’re in the hunt.”
The first Lions tour in 1888 comprised mostly English players and included matches in Australia and New Zealand. The tradition grew and since 1989, a Lions squad featuring Irish, England, Scottish and Welsh players has toured every four years on a rotational basis to Australia, New Zealand and South Africa.
Andy Farrell is head coach of a 38-man squad for the 2025 tour, with England lock Maro Itoje selected as captain.
Australian rugby has declined since its historic 2001 series victory over the Lions. The 1999 Rugby World Cup champions recovered to clinch that series with back-to-back wins in Melbourne and Sydney after a first-test loss in Brisbane, when the Wallabies were stunned by a crowd overwhelmingly dominated by visiting fans.
In 2013, the Lions — coming off a mid-week loss to the Canberra-based Brumbies in a tour game — edged Australia 23-21 in the first test in Brisbane and then, after losing 16-15 in Melbourne, rallied for a comprehensive 41-6 victory in Sydney.
After failing to make the Rugby World Cup quarterfinals in 2023, Australia has been in a rebuilding phase under New Zealand-born Schmidt, a former Ireland coach. The Wallabies had six wins in 13 tests in a 2024 season that ended in a 22-19 loss to Ireland in Dublin, but an influx of new players and some improved performances have increased expectations for 2025.
Schmidt, who will start assembling his squad next month as domestic teams bow out of the Super Rugby Pacific championship, knows that the Wallabies need to start being more consistent to win back the support of an Australian public which has a vast number of sporting choices.
The Wallabies are No. 8 in the World Rugby rankings for men's international teams and need to improve quickly to get a good seeding for the 2027 World Cup, which Australia is hosting.
We “need a series of really good performances and, and it’s something that we’re aspirational about and we work really hard behind the scenes to try to get into the mix,” Schmidt said. “I think some of the promising signs, the way the Wallabies finished off last year, the way the Super Rugby teams have competed this year, and so it’s our challenge to try to continue that.”
James Horwill, Australia's captain in the 2013 series, has seen enough red when it comes to Lions tours.
His enduring memory of the 2001 series, when he was a teenager watching the first test on TV?
“It felt like a home game for the British and Irish Lions just with just with the red shirts and the crowd," he said.
He said there was more obvious support for Australia 12 years ago with more fans in gold, but the red of the Lions still stood out.
“You walk out of the hotel, there was red everywhere. It’s almost like the British and Irish Lions fans don’t bring anything else other than red t-shirts,” he said. “They wear it everywhere, so we need our fans here to step up to the mark because we know they’re coming in droves from the U.K."
AP rugby: https://apnews.com/hub/rugby
Australia's national rugby union head coach Joe Schmidt, left, speaks in Sydney as future head coach Les Kiss listens on April 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft)
CAIRO (AP) — Hamas said Sunday it will dissolve its existing government in Gaza once a Palestinian technocratic leadership committee takes over the territory, as mandated under the U.S.-brokered peace plan. But the group gave no specifics on when the change will occur.
Hamas and the rival Palestinian Authority, the Palestinians’ internationally recognized representative, have not announced the names of the technocrats, who are not supposed to be politically affiliated, and it remains unclear if they will be cleared by Israel and the U.S.
The “Board of Peace,” an international body led by Trump, is supposed to oversee the government and other aspects of the ceasefire that took effect on Oct. 10, including disarming Hamas and deploying an international security force. The board's members have not been announced.
Meanwhile, the post-ceasefire death toll continued to rise in Gaza, with Israeli gunfire killing three Palestinians, according to Palestinian hospital officials.
The ceasefire began with a halt in fighting and the release of hostages held in Gaza in exchange for thousands of Palestinians held by Israel. The deal is still in its first phase as efforts continue to recover the remains of the final hostage left in Gaza.
An Egyptian official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss closed-door information, said Hamas was sending a delegation to talks with Egyptian, Qatari and Turkish officials about moving to the second phase.
In comments posted on his Telegram channel Sunday, Hazem Kassem, a Hamas spokesman, called for speeding up the establishment of the technocratic committee.
The Egyptian official said Hamas will meet with other Palestinian factions this week to finalize the committee's formation. The Hamas delegation will be chaired by top negotiator Khalil al-Hayya, the official said.
Trump has said the “Board of Peace " will monitor the committee and handle the disarmament of Hamas, the deployment of an international security force, additional pullbacks of Israeli troops and Gaza's reconstruction. The U.S. has reported little progress on any of these fronts, though the members of the board are expected to be announced this week.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday that Bulgarian diplomat Nickolay Mladenov has been selected as the board’s director-general. Mladenov is a former Bulgarian defense and foreign minister who served as U.N. envoy to Iraq before being appointed as the U.N. Mideast peace envoy from 2015 to 2020. During that time, he had good working relations with Israel and frequently worked to ease Israel-Hamas tensions.
Also Sunday, Israel’s Foreign Minister Gideon Saar met in Jerusalem with Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi. Saar said Israel was committed to enforcing Trump’s plan, while Motegi expressed Japan’s willingness to play an active role in the ceasefire.
According to Japan's Foreign Ministry, Motegi visited the Civil-Military Coordination Center, where the ceasefire is being monitored. He was also set to meet Netanyahu and Palestinian officials in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
In Gaza, two men were shot dead in the southern town of Bani Suhaila, according to Nasser Hospital, which received the bodies. Earlier Sunday, a man was killed by Israeli gunfire in the Tuffah neighborhood of Gaza City, according to Al-Ahly hospital, which received the body.
In response to questions about the Tuffah incident, Israel’s military said it had fired at and hit a “terrorist” in northern Gaza who had approached troops.
Israel and Hamas have accused each other of violating the ceasefire. Continued Israeli strikes in Gaza have killed more than 400 Palestinians, according to local health officials.
The Israeli military says any actions since the ceasefire began have been in response to violations of the agreement.
Israeli police said Sunday they were questioning a top official from Netanyahu's office over possible obstruction of an investigation into last year's leak of classified military information to a German tabloid.
Israeli media identified the official as Tzachi Braverman, Netanyahu’s chief of staff, who is expected to start as the next ambassador to the United Kingdom in the coming months.
He’s the latest official to be caught up in the scandal, in which Netanyahu’s inner circle is accused of leaking confidential information to German tabloid Bild to improve public perception of the prime minister following the killing of six hostages in Gaza in August of 2025.
It comes after an explosive interview by Kan News with former Netanyahu spokesperson, Eli Feldstein, who described a clandestine meeting with Braverman in an underground parking lot in the middle of the night in connection with the leak. Feldstein, who has been indicted, said Braverman offered to “shut down” the probe into the leaked information.
Opposition leader Yair Lapid immediately called for the suspension of Braverman as ambassador. “It is unacceptable that a person suspected of involvement in obstructing a serious security investigation should be the face of Israel in one of Europe’s most important countries,” Lapid wrote on X.
In response, Saar defended Braverman’s appointment and said he would not be removed from it until formally charged or tried.
Frankel reported from Jerusalem. Associated Press writer Melanie Lidman in Tel Aviv, Israel, contributed to this report.
Find more of AP’s Israel-Hamas coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war
Israel's Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar, left, meets with Japan's Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi in Jerusalem, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)
A tent camp for displaced Palestinians stretches across an area in Deir al-Balah, in the central Gaza Strip, Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
