British and Irish Lions set to make SHOCK hire of Scotland and former Ireland performance director David Nucifora for this summer’s tour

David Nucifora, the Scotland and former Ireland performance director, is set for a shock role with the British & Irish Lions for their tour of Australia this summer.

Mail Sport understands that Aled Walters, the ex-England and now Ireland head of athletic performance, will also travel as part of head coach Andy Farrell’s party.

The Lions Test series with Joe Schmidt’s Wallabies is set to be one of the rugby highlights of 2025 and Farrell has already begun work preparing for the trip having stepped away from his employment as Ireland head coach following the end of last year’s autumn series.

This month, Farrell led a Lions touring party to the southern hemisphere to assess hotels and training bases with Nucifora and Walters alongside him.

Walters’ involvement with the Lions is no surprise given he is one of the best in his field having won a World Cup with South Africa in 2019, among many other roles.

The Welshman was a key figure with England alongside their head coach Steve Borthwick as head of strength and conditioning prior to his shock departure for Ireland last August.

However, the fact Nucifora will be part of the Lions party must be considered a surprise as well as something of a coup for Farrell.

The 63-year-old has an intricate knowledge of rugby in both hemispheres which makes him uniquely qualified to work as part of this year’s tour.

As an Australian and former Wallaby himself, Nucifora won the World Cup with his country in 1991 and also coached at domestic level in his homeland with the Brumbies.

It means he knows all the sides that Farrell’s Lions will face extremely well.

Further, the highly-rated Nucifora is well equipped to work with the Lions players.

His role in revolutionising Irish rugby as high performance director helped turn the men in green from also-rans into the world’s No 1 side and regular Six Nations winners.

Nucifora’s work with Ireland came mostly alongside Schmidt – now Australia coach – and then with Farrell with whom he is understood to have a close relationship.

Last year, Nucifora left Ireland after 10 years for Scotland via a short stint back with Australia.

understands his role with the Lions will be to help Farrell prepare for the tour and ensure every aspect is delivered to the highest standard possible with little time to prepare.

In the upcoming Six Nations, which begins on January 31, Farrell will assess the players he has under consideration for the tour. He must also make a call on who he wants to join him in Australia as his assistant coaches, something on which Nucifora will have input.

Last August, Scotland confirmed Nucifora had joined them ‘in an advisory capacity to provide a roadmap for its next decade of player development.’

It looks likely he will continue his work with Scotland alongside helping Farrell and the Lions.