2025 mid-year rugby union tests

Fixtures

20/21 June

• Finlay Bealham, Scott Cummings, Ben Earl, Tommy Freeman, Ellis Genge, Mack Hansen, Rónan Kelleher, Alex Mitchell, Jac Morgan, Henry Pollock, Pierre Schoeman, Fin Smith, Sione Tuipulotu and Tomos Williams all made their Lions debuts.
• This was Argentina's first win over the British and Irish Lions.
• This was the British and Irish Lions first home loss to an international opposition; though had previously lost at home to a World XV ('The Rest') side in 1986.
• Argentina claim the 1888 Cup.

27/28 June

• This was Italy’s largest-ever winning margin in an away Test Match, surpassing the previous 61-point margin set against Portugal during the 1995-1997 FIRA Trophy.
• Sidney Halupé, Jurgen Meyer, Danie van der Merwe, Mirko Belloni, Tommaso Di Bartolomeo and Muhamed Hasa made their international debuts.

5/6 July

• This was Scotland's first win over the Māori All Blacks.

• Ichigo Nakakusu, Kippei Ishida, Yota Kamimori, Shuntaro Kitamura, Waisake Raratubua, Halatoa Vailea and Liam Belcher made their international debuts.
• Japan win against a Tier 1 side for the first time since 2019, where they won against Scotland 28–21.
• With this loss, Wales drop to 14th on the World Rugby Rankings, their lowest position.

• Fabian Holland, Du'Plessis Kirifi, Christian Lio-Willie, Ollie Norris, Giorgi Beria, Tyler Duguid, Paul Mallez, Régis Montagne, Joris Segonds, Tom Spring and Jacobus van Tonder made their international debuts.

• Vincent Tshituka, Matteo Canali, Pablo Dimcheff and David Odiase made their international debuts.

• Thomas Ahern, Jack Aungier, Michael Milne, Ben Murphy, Darragh Murray, Tommy O'Brien made their international debuts.
• This was the first time that Georgia has hosted Ireland.

• Santiago Valenzuela, Antonio Mitrea and Toni Maftei made their international debuts.
• This was Chile's first win over Romania.
• With this win, Chile broke into the top 20 of the World Rugby Rankings for the first time, whilst Romania slipped out of the top 20 for the first time.

• Bautista Bernasconi, Simón Benítez Cruz, Benjamín Elizalde, Nicolas Roger, Seb Atkinson, Will Muir and Guy Pepper made their international debuts.
• George Ford became the eighth Englishman to earn 100 test caps.
• Pablo Matera matched Agustín Creevy's record as Argentina's most capped player.

• This was the first meeting between these two nations.

• Philip Baselala and Salesi Rayasi made their international debuts.
• Australia claim the inaugural Vuvale Bowl.

11/12 July

• Sam Wye and Fergus Burke made their international debuts.

• Hayate Era, Sam Greene, Sena Kimura, Christian Coleman, Keelan Giles and Reuben Morgan-Williams made their international debuts.
• Wales ended their 18-match losing streak, winning a test match for the first time since their 43–19 win over Georgia during the 2023 Rugby World Cup.

• Timoci Tavatavanawai, Pierre Bochaton, Joshua Brennan, Thibault Daubagna, Baptiste Erdocio, Matthias Halagahu and Bastien Vergnes-Taillefer made their international debuts.
• New Zealand reclaimed the Dave Gallaher Trophy.

• Willie le Roux became the eighth South African to earn 100 test caps.
• Asenathi Ntlabakanye, Ethan Hooker and Cobus Wiese made their international debuts.
• This was the first time since June 2008 that South Africa has kept Italy scoreless.
• This was the first time since the 2023 Rugby World Cup that South Africa has kept their opposition scoreless.
• This was the first time since losing to Ireland 36–0 during the 2024 Six Nations that Italy has failed to score any points.

• Francisco Almeida, Guilherme Costa, Shayne Bolton, Hugh Gavin and Alex Kendellen made their international debuts.
• Portugal suffered their biggest defeat, which had previously been their 108–13 loss to New Zealand during the 2007 Rugby World Cup; the last time they had conceded more than 100 points in a test match,
• Ireland set a new record for their biggest win, surpassing their record held since 2000 against the United States when they won 83–3.
• This was the first time Ireland had scored more than 100 points in a game.

• Francisco Suárez, Ștefan Cojocariu, Rafael Florea-Jilaveanu Alexandru Harasim, Lukas Mitu and Toma Mîrzac made their international test debuts.
• This was Uruguay's biggest winning margin over Romania.

• Benjamín Grondona, Agustín Moyano and Luke Northmore made their international debuts.
• Pablo Matera earned his 111th test cap to surpass Agustín Creevy's record as Argentina's most capped player.

• This was Belgium's first win over Canada.
• This was the first time since Canada lost to Brazil 18–10 during the 2019 Americas Rugby Championship that they have lost to a tier 3 side.

• Tom Pittman and Christian Poidevin made their international debuts.
• Spain defeat the United States for the first time.

18/19 July

• Pita Anae Ah-Sue, Niko Jones, Kaynan Siteine-Tua, Latrell Smiler-Ah Kiong, Connor Tupai and Jacob Umaga and Fin Richardson made their international debuts.

• Emerson Prior made his international debut.

• Brodie McAlister made his international debut.

• Nick Champion de Crespigny made his international debut.
• Ollie Chessum, Ben Earl, Tommy Freeman, Ellis Genge, Jamison Gibson-Park, Huw Jones, Hugo Keenan, James Lowe, Rónan Kelleher, Joe McCarthy, Alex Mitchell, Andrew Porter, Dan Sheehan, Marcus Smith, Will Stuart, Sione Tuipulotu made their British and Irish test debuts.
• Maro Itoje earned his 100th test cap.
• James Slipper became the second Australian player to feature for Australia in back-to-back Lions Series in the professional era.
• This was the first time since 1896 that a Welsh player has not been named in a Lions test side against any of the traditional oppositions.

• Neethling Fouché, Marnus van der Merwe, Boan Venter and Sandro Mamamtavrishvili made their international debuts.
• This was South Africa's largest winning margin over Georgia, surpassing the 31-point difference set in 2021.

• Nicolás D’Amorim, Santiago Pernas and Faustino Sanchez Valarolo made their international debuts.

• Ezekiel Lindenmuth, Rufus McLean, Charlie Atkinson, Oscar Beard, Joe Carpenter, Arthur Clark, Gabriel Oghre and Max Ojomoh made their international debuts.

26 July

• Blair Kinghorn, Jac Morgan and James Ryan made their British and Irish test debuts.
• The British and Irish Lions won their first test series since Australia 2013.
• The British and Irish Lions won a test series with a game in hand for the first time since South Africa 1997.
• The British and Irish Lions won back-to-back test series against the same opposition for the first time in the professional era, and the first time since their series wins over Australia in 1966 and 1989.
• This was the British and Irish Lions’ first test win in Melbourne.
• The 90,307 match attendance was a record crowd for a British & Irish Lions match, and the MCG's record largest rugby union crowd.
• The British & Irish Lions won the Lions Series Trophy for the first time.