24 mins Excellent finish from old-timer Slipper there. You shouldn't underestimate how difficult it is to shift two defenders back the requisite 6 inches to touch down from that body position. - Duncan Casey 23 mins Try! And they're over. James Slipper goes over in the corner. His fourth international try in 146 caps. Tommy Freeman heads to the bin. Lynagh misses a difficult conversion. Game on now, that's for sure. 22 mins Another penalty and a warning for the Lions. To the corner they go again and the lineout is claimed. Another advantage too, the Lions might be in trouble. 21 mins Big carries lead to an Australian penalty, and they go to the corner. Skelton has done more in 20 minutes than the entire Wallaby pack managed in 80 last week. 20 mins Schmidt had bemoaned his side’s lack of intensity in the early stages of the first Test but he can have few complaints from an increase in intensity at the MCG. This is a proper contest.- Simon Lewis 20 mins The risk of the 6-2 split. Winger Harry Potter is forced off injured. His replacement is scrum-half Tate McDermott. 17 mins Try! Sheehan taps quickly and dives over superman-like. Questions over the legality but referee Andrea Piardi sees nothing wrong. Russell fails to add the extras. 17 mins Go for goal or tap and go? I’d build a scoreboard as the Wallabies have done, but the Lions believe in themselves. And bingo. - Mick Cleary 16 mins Wallabies keep the Lions out, but are offside again. Lions need to make this count. 15 mins Conan's try is ruled out but Lions retain the ball as Skelton and Co. were offside in the build-up. 14 mins They get the territory and a bit of a scuffle follows. Penalty Lions. Russell goes to the corner. Dan Sheehan throws and it ends up in Jack Conan crosses over for the Lions' opening try. 12 mins The next score is now very important, says Ronan O'Gara on comms. The Lions need territory. 11 mins Australia's cohesion is night and day compared to last week. They are securing possession well, playing the territory, winning collisions and being rewarded with penalties as a result. The structure that was absent last week is definitely there today. - Duncan Casey 11 mins Over it goes. That'll really help the young out-half. 10 mins Another penalty for the hosts. They are starting to get some joy from their physical start. Lynagh's second effort at the posts. 8 mins Russell catches the Wallabies out off the restart and finds touch, but they eventually clear. Bit of back and forth with the boot the last few minutes. Game settling down. 5 mins Nice variation and creativity in the Australian lineout early on, much more positive than last week and it's given them a foothold in the early exchanges. - Duncan Casey 4 mins Lions offside. Penalty Wallabies. Lynagh's is straight and through. 2 mins First penalty goes to the Wallabies. Michael Lynagh kicks downfield. Lineout goes over the top to the returning Valetini. 1 min Australia claim possession from an early line-out and pump ball deep into Lions territory. Kick-off! Finn Russell gets proceedings underway in front of 95,000 Wallabies and Lions supporters at the MCG. 10.59am Out come the teams, we'll have the Australian national anthem prior to the action getting underway. 10.55am We're just minutes away now. Former Lions head coach Warren Gatland says a desperate home side will bring massive emotion. "They're going to be desperate and they're going to bring a HUGE amount of emotion" 🔥Warren Gatland on what might be different for Australia in the second Test 🇦🇺 pic.twitter.com/1bi56J7kHJ— Sky Sports Rugby Union (@SkySportsRugby) July 26, 2025 10.42am A bad omen for the Wallabies? Their team bus arrived 25 minutes late to the MCG, echoing a similar experience for head coach Schmidt during his Ireland tenure, at Murrayfield during the 2017 Six Nations when his side were 15 minutes behind schedule. Scotland won the game 27-22 and Schmidt said his players had been unsettled by a rushed warm-up. - Simon Lewis 10.40am You hope that the MCG lives up to the hype. Oval stadiums are not a natural habitat for rugby. Quite a way away for fans. Give me a Millennium or an old Lansdowne any day. Sea of Red needs to be heard. - Mick Cleary 10.35am Lions head coach Andy Farrell has urged his charges to raise their standards to a new high. "From our point of view, we need to back what we believe is our potential within our side, and making sure that we're accurate with our game, and that's accuracy in all single areas, including physicality, etc. “So we believe that we understand what type of team we're chasing, and we think if we're able to put that out on the field, that should be good enough to put us in with a good shout at winning the game.” Counting down to one of the biggest games of their lives...#Lions2025 pic.twitter.com/JPOXJwEYOn— British & Irish Lions (@lionsofficial) July 26, 2025 10.30am Melbourne is not a happy hunting ground for the Lions. I remember chatting with an Aussie journo mate at half-time at Melbourne’s Docklands Stadium in 2001. ‘All over this, isn’t it,’ said my pal. Lions hugely dominant. And then it all went horribly wrong. - Mick Cleary 10.25am Here's O'Gara on Skelton, the man, and the player. "The best thing I ever did was sign Will Skelton!"La Rochelle Head Coach Ronan O'Gara on what Will Skelton brings to the table 🗣️ pic.twitter.com/lRFwtSXm70— Sky Sports Rugby Union (@SkySportsRugby) July 26, 2025 10.20am For Ronan O'Gara, Melbourne offers the Wallabies a final lifeline — but Joe Schmidt’s side must find belief before it’s too late. " Will Skelton has more than a role for himself this weekend, he has a role for Australian rugby. He needs to play well which will give belief to his teammates," O'Gara writes. "Joe Schmidt clearly didn’t like his chances of going deep into the first test but will need his lock and back row Rob Valetini to go for an hour in Melbourne and help sow doubts into the tourists by ensuring, minimum, it’s a one or two-score game at that stage." 10.17am Here's the team news for the second Test. Rob Valetini and Will Skelton are the big story out of the Wallabies squad. Their inclusion is vital for their hopes of tying the series. AUSTRALIA: Tom Wright; Max Jorgensen, Joseph Suaalii, Len Ikitau, Harry Potter; Tom Lynagh, Jake Gordon; James Slipper, David Porecki, Alan Alaalatoa; Nick Frost, Will Skelton; Rob Valetini, Fraser McReight, Harry Wilson – captain. Replacements: Billy Pollard, Angus Bell, Tom Robertson, Jeremy Williams, Langi Gleeson, Carlo Tizzano, Tate McDermott, Ben Donaldson. BRITISH & IRISH LIONS: H Keenan (Ireland); T Freeman (England), H Jones (Scotland), B Aki (Ireland), J Lowe (Ireland); F Russell (Scotland), Jamison Gibson-Park (Ireland); A Porter (Ireland), Dan Sheehan (Ireland), Tadhg Furlong (Ireland); M Itoje (England) – captain, O Chessum (England); T Beirne (Ireland), Tom Curry (England), J Conan (Ireland). Replacements: R Kelleher (Ireland), E Genge (England), W Stuart (England), J Ryan (Ireland), J Morgan (Wales), A Mitchell (England), O Farrell (England), B Kinghorn (Scotland). Referee: Andrea Piardi 10.15am Good morning all, Shane Donovan will talk you through the action at the MCG, while there'll also be contributions from Simon Lewis, Mick Cleary and Duncan Casey. Strap in, folks, Test two is on the way.