The British & Irish Lions squad for this summer’s tour to Australia is set to be announced at 2pm. Lions chair Ieuan Evans will reveal head coach Andy Farrell’s selection as part of a live event being held at the O2 Arena in London. Follow along for live updates of the squad announcement, as well as reaction and analysis from our writers. Our rugby writers select their squads to face AustraliaLions squad: All you need to know ahead of the squad announcementAndy Farrell faces Owen question as selection debates pile upListen to the latest episode of The Counter Ruck podcast Ireland’s last Lions tour captain was Paul O’Connell who will act as interim head coach of the national team for their two Test tour of Georgia and Portugal during the summer. The Limerick man was captain of the 2009 tour to South Africa under Scotland’s Ian McGeechan. The Lions lost the first two Tests in heartbreaking fashion but despite an injury crisis won the third, losing the series against the Springboks 2-1. The last Irishman to captain the Lions was Peter O’Mahony who did so in the first Test against New Zealand in 2017 when the tour captain Sam Warburton was named amongst the replacements. Hello and welcome to the Irish Times blog for the announcement of the Lions touring party for the series in Australia during the summer. Head coach Andy Farrell will confirm the squad at a live event in London at 2.0pm. John O’Sullivan here and I will keep you up to date on events at the O2 Arena in London. The television coverage starts a 1.30pm. I’d stay tuned here though because there’s a lot of faff involved in the preamble and we are much more entertaining. On a parochial note, how many Irish players will get the nod? Gordon D’Arcy plumped for 10 Gerry Thornley and Nathan Johns, 13 each. I misread the assignment and thought we had to try and predict how many Farrell would take and opted for 14. IT reminds me to pay more attention in school in the future. Caelan Doris’s shoulder injury sustained against the Northampton Saints has a four-to-six-month recovery after he underwent surgery. The Leinster and Ireland number eight would have been a shoo-in for the touring party and in all probability at captain. That honour is no likely to go England secondrow Maro Itoje and few would quibble in the absence of the Irishman.