The British & Irish Lions will play Argentina at the Aviva Stadium on Friday night

11:11, 18 Jun 2025Updated 11:18, 18 Jun 2025

Benhard Janse van Rensburg celebrates with Pedro Rubiolo . (Photo by Warren Little/Getty Images)

Bristol Bears lock Pedro Rubiolo will start in the second row for Argentina against the British & Irish Lions on Friday night in Dublin.

Rubiolo, 22, made his Bristol debut in May having joined the Bears early from Newcastle Falcons to complete his rehab on a serious foot injury that kept him out of action for most of the season. But after two barnstorming displays for the Premiership side, Rubiolo has been dropped straight back into the Puma’s engine rooms for the highly anticipated opening game of the 2025 Lions tour.

He is joined the the Argentina 23 but clubmate Santi Grondona who is on the bench for the once in a generation game with the Lions last facing the Pumas 20 years ago.

Discussing the impact Rubiolo has made at Bristol, director of rugby Pat Lam said: “Wow. Pedro Rubiolo. One of the reasons I went after him was I was watching the All Blacks lose to Argentina in Wellington last summer and he played 80 minutes at just 21 years old and I knew he played up here at Newcastle, but probably didn’t have the chance to shine up there.

“Then I watched him play South Africa and beat them, then I watched him play Australia for 80 minutes. After that I spoke to Felipe Contepomi and he said ‘Honestly, this guy is a machine.’ And then when he started training with the boys, we could not believe his work rate and his physicality.”

There is plenty of representation from around the rest of the Gallagher Premiership with Gloucester full-back Santi Carreras, who will join Bath next season, named as vice-captain with Leicester’s skipper Julian Montoya leading the side just days after losing the Gallagher Premiership final to Bath.

Carreras said: “You might play this game once in your life – it is so special. Everyone in the team is looking forward to it.”

Argentina are tuning up for a summer of international rugby with two Tests against England this summer before the Rugby Championship gets underway.

The Lions will name their team at 2pm today.

Argentina XV: 15. Santiago Carreras (vc), 14. Rodrigo Isgro, 13. Lucio Cinti, 12. Justo Piccardo, 11. Ignacio Mendy, 10. Tomas Albornoz, 9. Gonzalo Garcia; 1. Mayco Vivas, 2. Julian Montoya (c), 3. Joel Sclavi, 4. Franco Molina, 5. Pedro Rubiolo, 6. Pablo Matera (vc), 7. Juan Martin Gonzalez, 8. Joaquin Oviedo.

Replacements: 16. Bautista Bernasconi, 17. Boris Wenger, 18. Francisco Coria Marchetti, 19. Santiago Grondona, 20. Joaquin Moro, 21. Simon Benitez Cruz, 22. Matias Moroni, 23. Santiago Cordero

The Lions will name their team at 2pm.

Here is a look at the fixture schedule for the 2025 tour (all times BST):

  • Fri, Jun 20: Aviva Stadium, Dublin: Lions v Argentina (2000)
  • Sat, Jun 28: Optus Stadium, Perth: Western Force v Lions (1100)
  • Wed, Jul 2: Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane: Queensland Reds v Lions (1100)
  • Sat, Jul 5: Allianz Stadium, Sydney: NSW Waratahs v Lions (1100)
  • Wed, Jul 9: GIO Stadium, Canberra: ACT Brumbies v Lions (1100)
  • Sat, Jul 12: Adelaide Oval, Adelaide: Invitational Australia/New Zealand v Lions (1100)
  • Sat, Jul 19: Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane: First Test: Australia v Lions (1100)
  • Tue, July 22: Marvel Stadium, Melbourne: First Nations & Pasifika XV v Lions (1100)
  • Sat, Jul 26: MCG, Melbourne: Second Test: Australia v Lions (1100)
  • Sat, Aug 2: Accor Stadium, Sydney: Third Test: Australia v Lions (1100)