Andy Farrell draws up initial 75-man squad list for Lions’ tour of Australia

Farrell also confirmed his assistant coaches for the trip Down Under on Wednesday.

By contributor Duncan Bech, PA England Rugby Correspondent

Published Mar 26

Head coach Andy Farrell poses with his assistants — Head coach Andy Farrell (third left) poses with his assistants Richard Wigglesworth, Simon Easterby, John Dalziel, Andrew Goodman and John Fogarty (left to right) (John Walton/PA)

Andy Farrell has revealed that an initial squad of 75 players has been drawn up by the British and Irish Lions for their summer tour of Australia.

Farrell’s assistant coaches for the visit Down Under have been confirmed, with England number two Richard Wigglesworth and Ireland’s recent interim boss Simon Easterby among the five names announced on Wednesday.

Scotland forwards coach John Dalziel has also been recruited, with Ireland’s John Fogarty and Andrew Goodman completing the management team.

One of the initial jobs undertaken by Farrell and his assistants when they gathered together in London for the first time on Tuesday was to begin pencilling in the names of players who were in contention for the tour following the Six Nations.

“We came up with about 75 men or something like that. Every single one of them deserves to be on that list,” Farrell said.

“There’s going to be a hell of a lot of good players who don’t make the plane and that’s exactly where we want to be. We want to be as competitive as we possibly can.