The Carmarthen-born Walters has been appointed ‘Head of Athletic Performance’ for the Lions and will styart after the 2025 Six Nations is completed. He is currently working with the Ireland team having previously been with South Africa and England.
The other two key appointments announced are David Nucifora, who joins Farrell’s back room team as ‘General Manager, Performance’ and Vinny Hammond, who returns for his third Tour in the role of ‘Head of Analysis’.
“In David, Aled and Vinny we have three of the absolute best joining us for the tour to Australia this summer, culminating in the highly anticipated series against the Wallabies,” said Farrell.
“David’s unrivalled experience will help us shape and deliver such a challenging and exciting rugby programme, whilst also bringing essential insight into Australian rugby and the country as a whole.
“Aled is a World Cup winner (with South Africa) who has worked with players across England and Ireland and has also coached in Australia and Super Rugby with the Brumbies.
“And Vinny’s Lions pedigree from touring New Zealand and South Africa brings continuity and Lions experience, which will be crucial to success down under.”
Former Wallaby hooker and Brumbies coach Nucifora, who is curenlty head of performance at the Scottish Rugby Union, joins on a consultancy basis and will be with the squad for the duration of the tour. He was a replacement for Queensland against the Lions in 1989.
“Having watched the Lions tour Australia over the years, and then playing against them for a Queensland XV in 1989, never did I expect that one day I would be part of their team. It’s funny how sport works,” said Nucifora.
“I look forward to drawing on my experiences with Ireland and Scotland in supporting Andy as he goes about building a truly world-class backroom team and squad.”
Walters grew up as a staunch Scarlets fan who went on to complete a BSc degree in Physical Education and Sports Science at Loughborough University before completing his MA in Science, Strength & Conditioning at Edinburgh University.
He spent four seasons with the Scarlets before going on his travels and taking the role of head of S&C at Taranaki in New Zealand. He then moved to Australia and a position as athletic performance coach at the Brumbies in Super Rugby.
In 2012 he joined Munster and spent six years with the Irish province as its head of athletic performance and S&C. The Springboks came calling in 2018 and a year later he was part of their World Cup winning set-up.
He joined Leicester Tigers in May 2020 and his arrival at Welford Road was called a ‘game changer’ by then-director of rugby, Geordan Murphy. The Tigers rose from successive bottom-of-the-table finishes to finish sixth in 2020-21 and reach the European Challenge Cup final. In season two, Walters helped guide Leicester to the 2022 Premiership title.
After Steve Borthwick and Kevin Sinfield left Tigers midway through the 2022-23 season to help form England’s new coaching team, Walters followed them to Twickenham at the end of the campaign. He joined the Irish national team set-up in August 2024.
“The Lions is the absolute pinnacle and my earliest memory of them was watching the 1989 Australia Tour as an eight-year-old and celebrating Ieuan Evans’ try in the Third Test,” said Walters.
“It is true that there is no greater honour than being selected for a Lions tour and I cannot wait to work with the very best players and coaches as we take on the Wallabies and tour Australia.”
