Tadhg Beirne will skipper the Lions again. Dan Sheridan/INPHO

Beirne captains Lions in final warm-up against AUNZ Invitational

Owen Farrell will make his first appearance of the tour off the bench in Adelaide.

TADHG BEIRNE WILL captain the British and Irish Lions for the second time in their final warm-up game in Australia ahead of the three-Test series against the Wallabies.

Head coach Andy Farrell has named Beirne as skipper in the second row in a completely-changed side for Saturday’s clash with the AUNZ Invitational XV in Adelaide [KO 11am Irish time, Sky Sports].

With Blair Kinghorn having injured his knee yesterday against the Brumbies, Ireland fullback Hugo Keenan will get the final shot at earning the Lions’ number 15 shirt for the Tests, while Irish team-mates Mack Hansen and James Ryan also start for the Lions.

Owen Farrell will make his first appearance of the tour as a replacement, while there is an all-Irish sub front row of Andrew Porter, Rónan Kelleher, and Finlay Bealham.

Ben White, a late injury call-up like Farrell, gets his first start at scrum-half and partners Fin Smith in the halfbacks.

The Scotland centre pairing of Sione Tuipulotu and Huw Jones returns, while Duhan van der Merwe makes up the back three along with Keenan and Hansen.

Henry Pollock, Jac Morgan and Ben Earl get the last chance to impress in the back row, while Pierre Schoeman teams up with England’s Luke Cowan-Dickie and Will Stuart in the front row.

Lions (v AUNZ Invitational XV):

15.⁠ ⁠ Hugo Keenan
14.⁠ ⁠ Mack Hansen
13.⁠ ⁠ Huw Jones
12.⁠ ⁠ Sione Tuipulotu
11.⁠ ⁠ Duhan van Der Merwe
10.⁠ ⁠ Fin Smith
9.⁠ ⁠ Ben White

1.⁠ ⁠ Pierre Schoeman
2.⁠ ⁠ Luke Cowan-Dickie
3.⁠ ⁠ Will Stuart
4.⁠ ⁠ James Ryan
5.⁠ ⁠ Tadhg Beirne (captain)
6.⁠ ⁠ Henry Pollock
7.⁠ ⁠ Jac Morgan
8.⁠ ⁠ Ben Earl

Replacements:

16. Rónan Kelleher
17.⁠ ⁠ Andrew Porter
18.⁠ ⁠ Finlay Bealham
19.⁠ ⁠ Scott Cummings
20.⁠ ⁠ Josh van der Flier
21.⁠ ⁠ Alex Mitchell
22.⁠ ⁠ Marcus Smith
23.⁠ ⁠ Owen Farrell

Referee: Andrea Piardi [Italy].

Close
22 Comments
This is YOUR comments community. Stay civil, stay constructive, stay on topic. Please familiarise yourself with our comments policy here before taking part.
Leave a Comment
    Submit a report
    Please help us understand how this comment violates our community guidelines.
    Thank you for the feedback
    Your feedback has been sent to our team for review.

    Leave a commentcancel