5 England Players that are 2025 British & Irish Lions Tour 'Bolters'
Yesterday at 09:57 AM
The wildcards, the outside shouts, the dark horses. Call them what you like, but rugby has long witnessed many memorable ‘bolters’, that have lit up the international stage with the odds stacked against them.
Whether the players were brought in as injury cover and shone in the circumstances, or a head coach gambled on an in-form youngster to make their debut, bolters often add the exciting element of surprise to the biggest Test matches. With the British & Irish Lions tour to Australia now just eight months away, the calibre of player that qualifies as a bolter is at an all time high.
With Lions head coach Andy Farrell given the choice of the best players from England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales, some established national team stars have dropped down to bolter status for the upcoming tour. Throw in the possibility of international returns for overseas players, and the pecking order is instantly overturned, as the likes of Owen Farrell, Jack Willis and Henry Arundell become available to tour ‘down under’.
We’ve scanned across the England team and the wider Premiership landscape, to come up with five players that could be considered as bolters for the upcoming British & Irish Lions tour to Australia. With such fierce competition for places, there are some high profile England players on this list, as well as a currently uncapped hopeful that could earn their Test debut in the famous red jersey.
Despite being recently nailed on as the starting fullback for Steve Borthwick’s England team, George Furbank faces a considerable amount of competition for a place upon the British & Irish Lions tour. Due to the limited numbers of players allowed on the tour, Furbank is jostling for a seat on the plane as one of just two possible fullback options.
For the 2021 Lions tour to South Africa, head coach Warren Gatland took Scotland’s Stuart Hogg and Wales’ Liam Williams as the specified fullbacks. Furbank is already competing against Williams for a place in Australia, as well as Lions legend Leigh Halfpenny, who is ageing like a fine wine at Harlequins. Throw in Ireland’s resident Olympian Hugo Keenan and Toulouse’s Champions Cup winner Blair Kinghorn as Scotland’s contribution, and the odds start to become stacked against the Northampton captain.
Further complicating matters for Furbank is the possibility of Owen Farrell’s return to the Test match stage, and the butterfly effect this could have upon his chances. Should the former England captain return to international rugby, Marcus Smith’s chances of a run in the 10 jersey drastically go down, and Smith could well shift across to fullback for the Lions tour.
Smith has proven his ability in the 15 shirt with England at the Rugby World Cup, and more recently ran in two tries from fullback against Furbank’s Saints, as Harlequins took on Northampton in a recent Premiership meeting. This would further reduce Furbank’s chances of a Lions inclusion, despite his status as an England regular.
However, like Smith, Furbank’s versatility in both the 15 and 10 shirt plays to his favour for a Lions call-up. The 28-year-old has led the back-line in green, black and gold on 14 occasions, and could provide injury cover in the 10 jersey for a mid-week match against one of Australia’s Super Rugby franchises. Overall, Furbank faces difficult odds for a place on the plane, but we expect the Premiership champion to take this in his stride with leading performances for England and the Saints in the coming months.
Our second entry is one of the fastest-rising forwards across the English game, as Harlequins prop Fin Baxter continues to push on from strength to strength. The loose-head has come a long way from his Harlequins debut in 2020, having also cut his teeth in the Championship with Quins’ partnership club London Scottish.
Baxter endured a baptism of fire upon his England call-up, as he was flung into the fray against the All Blacks this past Summer. The 22-year-old was on the bench as his club and country mentor Joe Marler led in England’s starting pack against the All Blacks, but Marler would depart after 17 minutes, when the full weight of Tyrel Lomax bared down upon his foot and broke bone. Baxter had no time to waste, and stepped up to the plate in England’s narrow defeat to New Zealand in Dunedin.
Baxter’s first England start followed the following week, as he kicked on to take up the one shirt for the re-match at Eden Park. Despite being so early in his career, Baxter has already experienced the brightest lights of the biggest stages, with a Lions call-up the next obvious progression. The 2021 tour saw Gatland initially name Rory Sutherland, Mako Vunipola and Andrew Porter as the loose-head options. Three loose-heads would again be expected for the upcoming tour to Australia.
Like any ambitious Lions player, Baxter faces fierce competition for a Lions tour involvement. Beginning with his fellow countrymen, both Ellis Genge and Joe Marler would be eager to head to Australia, as would Ireland’s Andrew Porter, who missed out on the 2021 tour with an untimely toe injury, after being originally pencilled in. Rory Sutherland and Pierre Schoeman enter the ring from Scotland, with Wales’ Gareth Thomas and Corey Domachowski presenting the leading loose-heads from across the Severn Bridge.
