Andy Farrell's British and Irish Lions focussed only on a historic series victory in Australia

SYDNEY (AP) — When talk of a 3-nil series sweep started in the week leading up to the second test, British and Irish Lions head coach Andy Farrell was careful to play down those prospects in the full expectation of a potent comeback from Australia.

With that sweep now within sight in Sydney on Saturday after a contentious, last-minute 29-26 win over the Wallabies in Melbourne, some have questioned Australia's place in the rotation for quadrennial Lions tours that also includes World Cup champion South Africa and New Zealand.

Farrell thinks that kind of speculation is disrespectful.

“Every single team have their ups and downs but Australia — the sporting nation that they are — are always going to come back,” he said. “Come the 2027 World Cup, they’re going to be a force to be reckoned with.”

Australia won the Rugby World Cup in 1991 and ‘99, beat the Lions in 2001 and lost the World Cup finals in 2003 and ’15. But since then, the Wallabies have been on a slide that included a group-stage exit at the 2023 World Cup in France.

“It would be tragic not to tour here," Farrell said. "To me its insulting to talk about it in that kind of way.”

Whatever Farrell thinks, even the inference adds to the tension of another sold-out test in Sydney, where the Wallabies will be desperate to avoid a sweep and the Lions determined to finish off a historic, undefeated tour.

France has been touted as a replacement destination for Lions tours, given the strength of the national team and the club competition. Argentina was on the itinerary of early Lions tours in 1910 and 1927. The Pumas beat the 2025 Lions 28-24 in a warmup match in Dublin before Farrell's squad arrived in Australia and went on an eight-game winning streak.

They’re aiming to be the first Lions squad to record an unbeaten tour since 1974, which finished with a 13-13 draw against the Springboks. The Lions haven't won a test series in Australia 3-0 since 1904.

“We have put ourselves in position to finish this tour with our best performance to date and create our own piece of history,” said Farrell, who made two changes to his starting lineup. “Last weekend’s test match was an incredible spectacle. We are expecting another epic battle this weekend.”

Australia head coach Joe Schmidt had to make yet-another injury-enforced change when hooker David Porecki was ruled out Friday, with Billy Pollard promoted off the bench to start and Brandon Paenga-Amosa drafted into the squad.

Schmidt had already made four changes to his starting XV and two to the bench for the initial selection 48 hours ahead of kickoff.

On top of that, he decided it was better for backrower Carlo Tizzano to sit out this test and stay off social media amid northern hemisphere backlash over the disputed tackle in the leadup to the Lions' winning try in Melbourne.

Tizzano dramatically reeled back instantly after being cleaned out by Lions flanker Jac Morgan in the last breakdown, attracting criticism in the north for trying to milk a penalty.

Schmidt spoke about the deflating impact of the “ gut-wrenching end ” to last week’s test in Melbourne, but said his squad had rallied and was ready to go.

Those were sentiments echoed by Wallabies captain and No. 8 Harry Wilson.

“Last week we thought we played some pretty good footy and put ourselves in a position to win that game,” Wilson said the captain's run Friday, where he had to address yet more changes to the Wallabies lineup. "Ultimately we didn’t, and (the Lions) are obviously wanting to come out here and be clean-sweepers.

“But we want to go out there and get a result for our country ... the boys can’t wait.”

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

Maro Itoje of the British & Irish Lions, right, and Australia's Will Skelton clash during the second rugby union test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in Melbourne, Australia, Saturday, July 26, 2025. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft)

Australian players all wear fake moustaches as a tribute to retiring teammate Australia's Nic White, third from bottom right, as they pose for a photo before their captain's run training session in Sydney, Australia, Friday, Aug. 1, 2025, ahead of the rugby union test match against the British & Irish Lions, Saturday. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft)

Henry Pollock of the British & Irish Lions, left, carries his team's mascot as he arrives for their captain's run training session in Sydney, Australia, Friday, Aug. 1, 2025, ahead of their rugby union test match against Australia on Saturday. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft)

Coach of the British & Irish Lions Andy Farrell watches his players during their captain's run training session in Sydney, Australia, Friday, Aug. 1, 2025, ahead of their rugby union test match against Australia on Saturday. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft)

Maro Itoje, captain of the British & Irish Lions celebrates after winning the second rugby union test against Australia at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in Melbourne, Australia, Saturday, July 26, 2025. (AP Photo/Asanka Brendon Ratnayake)

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump issued a flurry of pardons in recent days, including for the father of a large donor to his super PAC, a former governor of Puerto Rico and a woman whose sentence he commuted during his first term but who ended up back in prison for a different scheme.

Trump commuted the sentence of Adriana Camberos just before his first stint in the White House ended in 2021. That followed her being convicted as part of an effort to divert 5-Hour Energy drink bottles acquired for resale in Mexico and instead keep them in the U.S. Prosecutors said she and several co-conspirators attached counterfeit labels and filled the bottles with a phony liquid before selling them.

In 2024, she and her brother, Andres, were convicted in a separate case, this one involving lying to manufacturers to sell wholesale groceries and additional items at big discounts after pledging that they were meant for sale in Mexico or to prisoners or rehabilitation facilities. The siblings sold the products at higher prices to U.S. distributors, prosecutors said.

The Camberoses were among 13 pardons Trump issued Thursday, along with eight commutations. An additional pardon was announced Friday for Terren Peizer, a resident of Puerto Rico and California who headed the Miami-based health care company Ontrak.

Peizer had been convicted and sentenced to 42 months in prison, and fined $5.25 million, for engaging in an insider trading scheme to avoid losses exceeding $12.5 million, according to the Justice Department.

The president has issued a number of clemencies during the first year of his second term, many targeted at criminal cases once touted by federal prosecutors. They’ve come amid a continuing Trump administration effort to erode public integrity guardrails — including the firing of the Justice Department’s pardon attorney.

Also pardoned this week was former Puerto Rico Gov. Wanda Vázquez, who had pleaded guilty last August to a campaign finance violation in a federal case that authorities say also involved a former FBI agent and a Venezuelan banker. Her sentencing had been set for later this month.

Federal prosecutors had been seeking one year behind bars, something Vázquez’s attorneys opposed as they accused prosecutors of violating a guilty plea deal reached last year that saw previous charges including bribery and fraud dropped.

They had noted that Vázquez had agreed to plead guilty to accepting a promise of a campaign contribution that was never received.

Also involved in the case was banker Julio Herrera Velutini, whose daughter, Isabela Herrera, donated $2.5 million to Trump's MAGA Inc. super PAC in 2024, and gave the group an additional $1 million last summer. The case's third defendant was former FBI agent Mark Rossini, who was also pardoned by the president.

The recent wave of clemencies joins previous Trump pardons of Democratic former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich and Republican ex-Connecticut Gov. John Rowland, whose promising political career was upended by a corruption scandal and two federal prison stints.

Trump also pardoned former U.S. Rep. Michael Grimm, a New York Republican who resigned from Congress after a tax fraud conviction and made headlines for threatening to throw a reporter off a Capitol balcony over a question he didn’t like. Reality TV stars Todd and Julie Chrisley, who had been convicted of cheating banks and evading taxes, also got Trump pardons.

The president also pardoned Texas Democratic Rep. Henry Cuellar in a bribery and conspiracy case. He later expressed regret and frustration for having done so, however, when Cuellar announced he was seeking reelection without switching parties to become a Republican.

President Donald Trump points after arriving at Palm Beach International Airport on Air Force One, Friday, Jan. 16, 2026, in West Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)