Australia vs British & Irish Lions Prediction: 9/2 Betting Tip, Team News & Odds

Australia and the British & Irish Lions meet at Brisbane’s Suncorp Stadium on Saturday in the opening match of their three-Test series.

The game kicks off 11am BST and will be broadcast on Sky Sports Main Event and Sky Sports Action.

Read on for our betting tips and team news.

Australia vs British & Irish Lions Betting Tips

The British & Irish Lions are judged to be 8.5 points better than Australia on the handicap, but they have been far from perfect on this tour.

Australia may also be a bit rusty after only having one official warm-up game ahead of the series, a bruising 21-18 victory over Fiji.

They lost fly-half Noah Lolesio to injury in that fixture and youngster Tom Lynagh is expected to fill the number 10 jersey.

James O’Connor - who started all three Tests in 2013 - and Ben Donaldson are also options.

Despite their limited preparations, Joe Schmidt will make sure his side are ready. 

The Kiwi is also a bright coach who will have identified areas and phases of the game for his team to target and they are a good price to score first.

Although they’ve improved slightly, the Lions have habitually started games slowly and that will be punished by the Wallabies, who will target the breakdown and go for the posts if awarded kickable penalties.

The almost once-in-a-career nature of facing the Lions means previous opponents have tended to be more ambitious by going for tries rather than taking the points.

However, winning is all that matters in Brisbane and even if they’re clearly on top, Australia could look to take the comfort of three points, rather than gambling on getting seven with a converted try, making them worth backing to score first at 6/5 with bet365.

On paper, the Lions are still the stronger side and should win in Brisbane. The almost universal expectation is that, as in 2013, they will triumph at Suncorp, lose in Melbourne and then take the series in Sydney.

These games are usually far tighter than forecast, as the home players know this might be their only chance to beat the Lions and tend to raise their game, while the touring side’s general performance drops due to the unfamiliarity of playing with each other.

The opening Test in 2009 finished 26-21 to South Africa, while the opener in Brisbane ended 23-21 in the Lions’ favour, but only because Kurtley Beale slipped while attempting a kickable late penalty. The tourists also won the first match four years ago in South Africa, this time by five points.

The only outlier is in 2017 when New Zealand took the opening Test by 15 points, but the tourists hit back to win the second match by three points before a drawn final game.

Another close contest could be on the cards and a Lions win by five or fewer points is a good option at 9/2 with bet365.

Australia vs British & Irish Lions Team News

The teams have been revealed ahead of Saturday's opening clash:

Australia Team: Wright; Jorgensen, Suaalii, Ikitau, Potter; Lynagh, Gordon; Slipper, Faessler, Alaalatoa, Frost, Williams, De Crespigny, McReight, Wilson.

Lions Team: Keenan, Freeman, Jones, Tuipulotu, Lowe, Russell, Gibson-Park; Genge, Sheehan, Furlong. Itoje, McCarthy, Beirne, Curry, Conan.