Jamison Gibson-Park: Lions 'mateship' only adds to England-Ireland rivalry

Ireland scrum-half Gibson-Park said he loves coming up against players like England counterpart Alex Mitchell

Jamison Gibson-Park isn't accustomed to being kept in reserve, as he was for Ireland's Six Nations game against Italy. Pic: ©INPHO/Ben Brady

Finlay Bealham and Ellis Genge mined a podcast out of their British and Irish Lions tour bromance. Johnny Sexton got on great guns with Henry Pollock “in a weird kind of way”, and Joe McCarthy clicked with the English flanker as well.

Friendships are inevitable when players from the four ‘home countries’ come together for weeks on end on the far side of the world. The question is just how these bonds reframe old rivalries this week when Ireland and England meet at Twickenham in the Six Nations.