Lions watch: Six Nations week one winners and losers ahead of the 2025 British and Irish Lions tour

Later this year, the eyes of the rugby union world will be firmly fixed on Australia as the British and Irish Lions return to the country for the first time since 2013. Selection for a Lions tour is a career highlight for any player from England, Ireland, Scotland, or Wales. However, to earn selection, they must prove they can perform at the highest level, and the Six Nations is their last chance to demonstrate their international credentials before Andy Farrell names his squad.

This weekend saw the start of the northern hemisphere's premier competition, the Six Nations, with Ireland overcoming England, who showed some promise in patches; a depleted Scotland side narrowly defeated Italy; and France comprehensively beat Wales. Here are the winners and losers from the first week of the Six Nations from a Lions tour perspective.

Winners: Ireland’s Backs. The most terrifying thing for Australians is seeing New Zealanders running amok in their gold jerseys, so the performance of Ireland’s three New Zealand-born backs against England was, to put it mildly, ominous. At halfback, Jamison Gibson-Park was named man-of-the-match for the way he controlled the game and scored the only first-half try for Ireland in Dublin, and despite a strong performance from Toulouse’s Ben White (Scotland), he remains the front-runner for the Lions halfback jersey.

The blistering pace and power of James Lowe was on full display, making England’s 9, Alex Mitchell, look foolish, with Mitchell's defensive frailties exposed by his poor display, which will undoubtedly have lowered his stock in the Lions pecking order. Lowe has been a constant threat on the wing, his size making him incredibly difficult to stop. Two further breaks through the middle by the former Maori All Black have raised an intriguing question about his ability at inside center, especially given his powerful kicking game. But that would be to overlook the form of Bundee Aki, whose barnstorming run through three England players in the corner helped settle Irish nerves in the second half. All three have given themselves a strong mark, although strong showings from Huw Jones, who scored a hat-trick for Scotland in another fine display at 13, and Ollie Lawrence for England ensured there are plenty of options in midfield.

Winners: England’s Loose Forwards. Granted, England lost to Ireland, but back-rowers Tom Curry, Ben Earl, and captain and lock Maro Itoje have put themselves in a stronger position for a Lions test spot with some impressive performances. Curry, playing alongside his twin brother Ben in the back row for the first time, was at his best in the loose, competing for the ball with Earl and putting in a huge shift. When Earl was taken off before the hour mark, one of a series of baffling substitutions by England coach Steve Borthwick, England lost some impetus in the loose. We’ll include Itoje in the discussion, as he plays like a back-rower at times, constantly competing at the edge of the ruck. The England captain is also a candidate for the Lions captaincy, and another solid performance, despite the result, will have done his hopes no harm. One possible question mark over Itoje is his discipline, but this seems more of a refereeing interpretation, as shown by Ben O’Keeffe’s call for a non-existent push on the Irish side of the ruck.

Elsewhere, Caelan Doris (Ireland) was outstanding at 8, Tadhg Beirne was impressive at lock, and Rory Darge (Scotland) showed his poaching ability to full effect against Italy. Question marks: Fly-Half. Ireland opted to start 21-year-old Leinster half Sam Prendergast against England, but the youngster didn’t really do enough to spark a backline that was riddled with errors. His performance was flat, and his replacement, Munster’s Jack Crowley, immediately helped Ireland get into gear when he came on. The battle for the Irish 10 jersey has been intense in the north all winter, with loyalties split by province, and it seems that the Munster man has shown that, for now at least, Crowley should be the front runner. Another key player in contention for a Lions starting spot, Scotland’s Finn Russell, had a poor game against Italy in Edinburgh, so the starting spot remains up for grabs. If you want some spark and out-of-the-box thinking, then look at Marcus Smith.

The Harlequins 10 is undoubtedly the most exciting half-back of the four home nations to watch, but is that spontaneity and exciting flair what is needed in the pressure cooker of a Lions test match? Smith was excellent early on but faded in the second half as Ireland took control of the game, and the decision to move him to fullback was increasingly bizarre and cannot continue. Speaking of fullbacks, Hugo Keenan (Ireland) and Freddie Steward (England) were both good, but Blair Kinghorn (Scotland) was solid under the high ball in Edinburgh and remains the front-runner for the 15 jersey. Open for discussion: Anyone in the front row. The most thankless task in rugby is trading blows in the coal pit of the scrum, and no one really shone in week one. Ronan Kelleher was fairly solid at hooker for Ireland, but his lineout throwing was far superior to the almost anonymous Luke Cowan-Dickie, whose performance probably did more to support the case for the absent former captain Jamie George than his own. Zander Fagerson was excellent for Scotland in both the loose and tight, while England’s Ellis Genge was penalized multiple times at the scrum, perhaps unfairly, but was as busy as ever in the loose and has some of the best hands in the world for a man of his size.

Ireland’s Andrew Porter was also excellent, solid in the scrum and busy around the park. Losers: Wales. Oh dear, where do we start? The Welsh public may have known that they were in for some pain in this Six Nations, but I doubt even they thought their team would be this abject against France in Paris. France’s 43-0 victory over Wales was their biggest ever home win against the Welsh and made it 13 consecutive losses in international matches for Wales. It’s hard to see how many Welsh players will be considered for the squad, although Jac Morgan’s diligence and effort were admirable in an otherwise dismal performance. But apart from that, things look very bleak. Given that 12 years ago, Welsh players made up a large proportion of the touring party, their absence this year will be glaring. In the Paris mauling, the two best Welshmen and Welsh-related players were France’s defense coach Shaun Edwards and the uncapped Gloucester center Max Llewellyn. The 26-year-old Llewellyn has been outstanding for the Cherry and Whites in the Premiership this year, and his absence may end up being a blessing after the complete ineffectiveness of the entire Welsh backline.

Loser: Sione Tuipulotu. Coming into the new year, some commentators suggested that the Lions could do worse than pick an entire Scottish backline – although you rarely hear these voices on the Irish Sea side. Part of that was down to the hugely influential Scotland captain Sione Tuipulotu and his magical partnership with Huw Jones. The Victoria-born former Melbourne Rebel has been one of the best players in Gregor Townsend’s side, who continue to turn heads, and he would have wanted more than anyone to take that form into a tour against the country of his birth. Therefore, the pectoral injury that has ruled him out of the Six Nations and requires surgery has come as a massive blow. The 27-year-old is expected to return for the Glasgow Warriors before the end of the domestic season, but nobody knows what condition he will be in. “I’ll be back,” Tuipulotu wrote on Instagram after his injury was confirmed. “I really can’t believe it, but the game is the game and I won’t question God’s timing.” Whether that timing will work for the Lions tour remains to be seen.

If a Lions team was picked today... 1. Andrew Porter (Ireland) 2. Ronan Kelleher (Ireland) 3. Zander Fagerson (Scotland) 4. Maro Itoje (England) (c) 5. Tadhg Beirne (Ireland) 6. Rory Darge (Scotland) 7. Tom Curry (England) 8. Ben Earl (England) 9. Jamison Gibson-Park (Ireland) 10. Marcus Smith (England) 11. James Lowe (Ireland) 12. Bundee Aki (Ireland) 13. Huw Jones (Scotland) 14. Duhan van der Merwe (Scotland) 15. Blair Kinghorn (Scotland) Replacements: Dave Cherry (Scotland), Ellis Genge (England), Pierre Schoeman (Scotland), Jonny Gray (Scotland), Jac Morgan (Wales), Ben White (Scotland), Jack Crowley (Ireland), Ollie Lawrence (England).