ADELAIDE, Australia (AP) — The British and Irish Lions used their final tour match ahead of the first test against the Wallabies to overwhelm an Australia and New Zealand combined side 48-0 on Saturday.
The Lions led 17-0 at halftime and poured on the tries in the second half before 43,124 spectators, a record for rugby in the Australian rules-mad state of South Australia.
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Marcus Smith of the British & Irish Lions takes a shot at goal during the rugby match between the Lions and the AUNZ Invitational XV in Adelaide, Saturday, July 12, 2025. (AP Photo/James Elsby)
Duhan van der Merwe of the British & Irish Lions runs to score a try during the rugby match between the Lions and the AUNZ Invitational XV in Adelaide, Saturday, July 12, 2025. (AP Photo/James Elsby)
Ben White, left, of the British & Irish Lions is congratulated by teammates after scoring a try during the rugby match between the Lions and the AUNZ Invitational XV in Adelaide, Saturday, July 12, 2025. (AP Photo/James Elsby)
Fin Smith of the British & Irish Lions is tackled by Ngani Laumape of the AUNZ Invitational XV during the rugby match between the Lions and the AUNZ Invitational XV in Adelaide, Saturday, July 12, 2025. (AP Photo/James Elsby)
Owen Farrell of the British & Irish Lions gestures during the rugby match between the Lions and the AUNZ Invitational XV in Adelaide, Saturday, July 12, 2025. (AP Photo/James Elsby)
Scotland’s Duhan van der Merwe scored two of his three tries in an early 13-minute span as the Lions won for the fifth time in five matches on their Australian tour.
Controversial mid-tour replacement Owen Farrell came off the reserves bench in the 50th minute to a smattering of jeers. Farrell hasn't played international rugby since the 2023 World Cup and played no rugby in nine weeks.
In the 36th, hooker Luke Cowan-Dickie was knocked out after attempting a tackle and was taken off the field by stretcher. But he was seen walking along the sidelines in the second half.
After the match, Lions coach Andy Farrell said Cowan-Dickie was “good and back to being his normal self. It was unfortunate. It was a concussion.”
Hours later, Jamie George — on tour with England in Argentina — was called up by the Lions as cover and was scheduled to fly out to Brisbane on Sunday.
Farrell also said outside center Garry Ringrose failed a concussion test following an injury late in the tour match against the ACT Brumbies on Wednesday “which is unfortunate for him ... he’ll be back later in the series. Jamie (Osborne) coming in means we have cover.”
On Saturday's eight-try win, Farrell said, “It was a good professional performance.
“When you play these types of games, all sorts of things can happen. We played a nice controlled game of rugby and never let them in the game. We stayed at it. It was never going to be perfect. We kept going as a team and that’s the main thing.”
The first combined Australia-New Zealand XV since the 1989 Lions tour included 17 internationals, including the entire starting side. But the AUNZ team played like it was patched together this week and struggled to handle the watertight Lions while suffering from indiscipline.
The first test against the Wallabies is next Saturday in Brisbane.
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Marcus Smith of the British & Irish Lions takes a shot at goal during the rugby match between the Lions and the AUNZ Invitational XV in Adelaide, Saturday, July 12, 2025. (AP Photo/James Elsby)
Duhan van der Merwe of the British & Irish Lions runs to score a try during the rugby match between the Lions and the AUNZ Invitational XV in Adelaide, Saturday, July 12, 2025. (AP Photo/James Elsby)
Ben White, left, of the British & Irish Lions is congratulated by teammates after scoring a try during the rugby match between the Lions and the AUNZ Invitational XV in Adelaide, Saturday, July 12, 2025. (AP Photo/James Elsby)
Fin Smith of the British & Irish Lions is tackled by Ngani Laumape of the AUNZ Invitational XV during the rugby match between the Lions and the AUNZ Invitational XV in Adelaide, Saturday, July 12, 2025. (AP Photo/James Elsby)
Owen Farrell of the British & Irish Lions gestures during the rugby match between the Lions and the AUNZ Invitational XV in Adelaide, Saturday, July 12, 2025. (AP Photo/James Elsby)
WASHINGTON (AP) — A U.S. service member who has been missing since Iran shot down a fighter jet has been rescued, President Donald Trump wrote in a social media post early Sunday.
A frantic U.S. search-and-rescue operation unfolded after the crash of the F-15E Strike Eagle on Friday, as Iran also promised a reward for anyone who turned in the “enemy pilot.”
A second crew member was rescued earlier.
“This brave Warrior was behind enemy lines in the treacherous mountains of Iran, being hunted down by our enemies, who were getting closer and closer by the hour,” Trump wrote.
Trump said that the aviator is injured but “will be just fine,” adding that the rescue involved “dozens of aircraft” and that the U.S. had been monitoring his location “24 hours a day, and diligently planning for his rescue.”
The fighter jet was the first U.S. aircraft to have crashed in Iranian territory since the conflict in late February.
Trump said last week that the U.S. had “decimated” Iran and would finish the war “very fast.” Two days later, Iran shot down two U.S. military planes, showing the ongoing perils of the bombing campaign and the ability of a degraded Iranian military to continue to hit back.
In Kuwait, an Iranian drone attack caused significant damage to two power plants and put a water desalination station out of service, according to the Ministry of Electricity. No injuries were reported from the attack, the ministry said.
In Bahrain, the national oil company said that a drone attack caused a fire at one of its storage facilities, which was extinguished. It said the damage was still being assessed and no injuries had been reported.
In the United Arab Emirates, authorities responded to multiple fires at the Borouge petrochemicals plant, a joint venture of the Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. and Borealis of Australia. They say the fires were caused by falling debris following successful interceptions by air defense systems, but production at the plant in Ruwais, near the UAE’s western border with Saudi Arabia, has halted.
The strike came a day after Israel struck a petrochemical plant in Iran that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said generated revenue that it had used to fund the war.
The war began with joint U.S.-Israel strikes on Feb. 28 and has killed thousands, shaken global markets, cut off key shipping routes and spiked fuel prices. Both sides have threatened and hit civilian targets, bringing warnings of possible war crimes.
The other jet to go down was a U.S. A-10 attack aircraft. Neither the status of the crew nor exactly where it crashed was immediately known.
Trump renewed his threats for Iran to open up the Strait of Hormuz, a crucial waterway for global energy shipments that has been choked off by Tehran, by Monday or face devastating consequences, writing Saturday in a social media post: “Remember when I gave Iran ten days to MAKE A DEAL or OPEN UP THE HORMUZ STRAIT. Time is running out — 48 hours before all Hell will reign down on them.”
“The doors of hell will be opened to you” if Iran’s infrastructure is attacked, Gen. Ali Abdollahi Aliabadi with the country’s joint military command said late Saturday in response to Trump’s renewed threat, state media reported. In turn, the general threatened all infrastructure used by the U.S. military in the region.
But Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Tahir Andrabi, told The Associated Press that his government’s efforts to broker a ceasefire are “right on track” after Islamabad last week said that it would soon host talks between the U.S. and Iran.
Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, said that Iranian officials “have never refused to go to Islamabad.”
Mediators from Pakistan, Turkey and Egypt were working to bring the U.S. and Iran to the negotiating table, according to two regional officials.
The proposed compromise includes a cessation of hostilities to allow a diplomatic settlement, according to a regional official involved in the efforts and a Gulf diplomat briefed on the matter. They spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss closed-door diplomacy.
Iran’s parliamentary speaker, Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, issued a veiled threat late Friday to disrupt traffic through a second strategic waterway in the region, the Bab el-Mandeb.
The strait, 32 kilometers (20 miles) wide, links the Red Sea with the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean. More than a tenth of seaborne global oil and a quarter of container ships pass through it.
“Which countries and companies account for the highest transit volumes through the strait?” Qalibaf wrote.
More than 1,900 people have been killed in Iran since the war began.
In Gulf Arab states and the occupied West Bank, more than two dozen people have died, while 19 have been reported dead in Israel and 13 U.S. service members have been killed. In Lebanon, more than 1,400 people have been killed and more than 1 million people have been displaced. Ten Israeli soldiers have died there.
Jon Gambrell in Dubai, United Arab Emirates; Samy Magdy in Cairo; Munir Ahmed in Islamabad; Dasha Litvinova in Tallinn, Estonia; and Seung Min Kim, Will Weissert, Michelle L. Price, Lisa Mascaro and Ben Finley in Washington, contributed to this report.
Followers of Iraq's Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr chant slogans as they wave national Iraqi flag during a protest against U.S. and Israeli attacks on multiple cities across Iran, in Tahrir Square, Baghdad, Baghdad, Iraq, Saturday, April 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban)
A bedroom is damaged in a building struck in an Israeli airstrike in the southern port city of Tyre, Lebanon, Saturday, April 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari)
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