July 2025 Rugby Round-Up
The Rugbystore round-up of the big news stories from the world of rugby over July.
1. Lions claim Series Win Down Under
The British & Irish Lions have returned from Australia with a 2-1 Series win against the Wallabies. After weeks of entertaining action against invitational and club sides, the two sides clashed over three Tests, with the Lions claiming back to series wins over their opponents. The win from Andy Farrell’s men marked on the second series win for the Lions in the 21st century, as they will look back-to-back tour wins in New Zealand in 2029.
While the Lions celebrate the win their Aussie counterparts can hold their heads high following their 3rd Test win, as they claimed a 22-12 victory in Sydney despite being severe underdogs. It is a performance and result that can give the Wallabies some much needed momentum as they head into the upcoming Rugby Championship, as well as showing the wider rugby community that they are making strides forward ahead of hosting the World Cup in 2027.
2. Tandy becomes Wales Head Coach
After a lengthy search, the Welsh Rugby Union has finally found Warren Gatland’s replacement in Scotland Defensive Coash Steve Tandy. Having just come back from a successful British and Irish Lions Series win over Australia, the Welshmen will be taking over officially for interim boss Matt Sheratt in September.
With Wales ending their 18-Test losing streak in Japan earlier in the month, Tandy will be looking to carry on the momentum, with the Autumn Tests just around the corner.
Wales will host Argentina, Japan, New Zealand & South Africa in November.
3. Zimbabwe Qualify for the RWC 2027
Zimbabwe will end their 36 year wait to return to the pinnacle of international rugby, after they defeat Namibia in African Qualifying this month to qualify for the 2027 World Cup. Having had control of the continents World Cup spot since they first qualified in 1999, Namibia were considered heavy favourites to do the same again and book their place in Australia in 2027.
However, Zimbabwe followed a different script, as the Sables defeated Morocco and Kenya before facing the Welwitschias in the 2025 Africa Cup Final. Looking to defend their title in Uganda, the Sables were able to hold on to claim a hard-fought 30-28 win to secure their return to the World Cup.
Meanwhile Namibia will still have another chance to qualify for the expanded tournament, as they beat the United Arab Emirates 86-29 to take one of the four places in the Final Qualification Tournament in November. So far only them and Belgium are qualified, as they wait to see who will join them from Pacific and Sudamericana tournaments.
Summer Rugby Fixture Round-Up
With the Lions on this Summer you maybe forgiven if you forgot we still had a action packed month of Summer Tests between all the usual suspects in the international game.
Scotland had mixed Summer, kicking off with their first ever win over the Maori All Blacks and a comfortable victory over Samoa, but there was a tough defeat at the hands of Fiji sandwiched between the two results.
As previously mentioned, Wales did break the losing streak this month, as they defeated Japan to stop the losing count at 18 Tests.
England beat Argentina in two tightly contested tests before they finished off their Summer with a routine victory over the USA.
Sanding in for Andy Farrell, Paul O’Connell led Ireland two to comfortable wins over Georgia and Portugal, with Ireland scoring 106 points in Lisbon.
6 Nations Champions France were outclassed on their Summer Tour, with the Champs losing all three Tests as they were whitewashed by New Zealand.
Italy started off their Summer with a big win over Namibia before two defeats at the hands of the Springboks, with the second test being a one-sided 45-0 defeat in Gqeberha.
That’s it! That’s our quick roundup for July 2025. Be sure to checkout the rest of the Rugbystore Blog for news, reviews, training tips and much more.