Kurtley Beale among first 5 selected for Indigenous squad to play the British and Irish Lions

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — The British and Irish Lions will see the familiar face of Wallaby veteran Kurtley Beale on their Australian tour, albeit later than expected.

The 95-test backline utility had been set to play for the Perth-based Western Force against the Lions in the tour-opening match Saturday but was ruled out with hamstring injury and replaced by current Wallaby squad member Ben Donaldson.

Instead, Beale was named Thursday as one of the first five players for the First Nations and Pasifika XV team set to play against the Lions in Melbourne on July 22. The Lions are in Australia for nine games including tests on July 19, 26 and Aug. 2.

Beale, who hit form for the Force this year after returning from a long-term Achilles injury, played in Australia's 2-1 series loss to the Lions in 2013.

Rob Leota, who has played 21 tests for the Wallabies, most recently at the 2023 Rugby World Cup, was also named to the Indigenous team along with Fiji-born back rower Seru Uru. Also named were Charlie Gamble, a flanker for the New South Wales Waratahs, and Andy Muirhead, who has scored 180 points in 108 games for the ACT Brumbies since 2017.

Former Australia backrower Toutai Kefu, who helped the Wallabies win the 1999 World Cup and the 2001 series against the British and Irish Lions and has been head coach of Tonga's national team, will coach the First Nations and Pasifika team. The remainder of the squad is yet to be confirmed.

Lions utility back Elliot Daly knows Beale better than most of his teammates. Beale played with Daly at English club Wasps in 2016-17 and they formed a strong friendship.

“If he didn’t get injured in that semifinal against Leicester in 2017 I think we would have won the title,” Daly said. “He came at a time when we were playing attacking rugby and he slotted in really well."

The Lions, made up of players from Ireland, Scotland, Wales and England, lost 28-24 to Argentina last week in a warmup for the tour. They will play the Wallabies in tests on July 19 in Brisbane, July 26 in Melbourne and Aug. 2 in Sydney.

The Australian section of the tour kicks off this weekend on the west coast, where Donaldson will join five other current Wallabies in the Force lineup.

“Any chance you get to play against the Lions, you probably take it with both hands," Donaldson said.

AP rugby: https://apnews.com/hub/rugby

FILE - Australia's Kurtley Beale flies through the air to score a try against New Zealand during their rugby union test match in Sydney on Aug. 19, 2017. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft, File)

A Ukrainian drone strike killed one person and wounded three others in the Russian city of Voronezh, local officials said Sunday.

A young woman died overnight in a hospital intensive care unit after debris from a drone fell on a house during the attack on Saturday, regional Gov. Alexander Gusev said on Telegram.

Three other people were wounded and more than 10 apartment buildings, private houses and a high school were damaged, he said, adding that air defenses shot down 17 drones over Voronezh. The city is home to just over 1 million people and lies some 250 kilometers (155 miles) from the Ukrainian border.

The attack came the day after Russia bombarded Ukraine with hundreds of drones and dozens of missiles overnight into Friday, killing at least four people in the capital Kyiv, according to Ukrainian officials.

For only the second time in the nearly four-year war, Russia used a powerful new hypersonic missile that struck western Ukraine in a clear warning to Kyiv and NATO.

The intense barrage and the launch of the nuclear-capable Oreshnik missile followed reports of major progress in talks between Ukraine and its allies on how to defend the country from further aggression by Moscow if a U.S.-led peace deal is struck.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Saturday in his nightly address that Ukrainian negotiators “continue to communicate with the American side.”

Chief negotiator Rustem Umerov was in contact with U.S. partners Saturday, he said.

Separately, Ukraine’s General Staff said Russia targeted Ukraine with 154 drones overnight into Sunday and 125 were shot down.

Follow the AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

This photo provided by the Ukrainian Security Service on Friday, Jan. 9, 2026, shows a fragment believed to be a part of a Russian Oreshnik intermediate range hypersonic ballistic missile that hit the Lviv region. (Ukrainian Security Service via AP)

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy, second left, listens to British Defense Secretary John Healey during their meeting in Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Danylo Antoniuk)