Eight Ireland players have been selected in the British & Irish Lions starting XV to face Western Force in the first fixture of the squad’s Australia tour on Saturday. The Leinster hooker Dan Sheehan will lead out the team on his Lions debut with eight more first-time Lions featuring in the matchday 23 and 20-year-old Henry Pollock handed a start at number eight.
Sheehan will be among those making his Lions debut alongside his club-mates Garry Ringrose, James Lowe, Joe McCarthy and Josh van der Flier. The bench contains another four newcomers in the shape of England’s Ollie Chessum and Will Stuart, Scotland’s Huw Jones and Ireland’s Andrew Porter.
Finn Russell slots in at fly-half but there is no place in the 23 for Jamison Gibson-Park or James Ryan, both of whom have been recuperating from slight injuries. Sione Tuipulotu and Tadhg Beirne will start their second consecutive games having faced Argentina last Friday, with Beirne at blindside flanker alongside the youthful Pollock who will be invited to add pace and dynamism to the back-row equation.
“We have had a good week of training and all of the travel and time zone changes have been managed really well, so we are good to go,” coachAndy Farrellsaid. “Dan Sheehan gets the opportunity to lead the side against Western Force, which is a great honour for him and his family – so congratulations to Dan as he captains the side on his Lions debut.
“We know the quality and experience the Force have. The opportunity to play against the Lions always brings out special performances from the Super Rugby sides, so we expect them to be at their best.”
The Force, meanwhile will be fielding six Wallaby squad members after Ben Donaldson was called up as a late replacement forKurtley Beale, who suffered a hamstring injury in training earlier this week. Tom Robertson, Darcy Swain, Nick Champion de Crespigny, Nic White and Dylan Pietsch are also involved prior to linking up with the national team on Sunday.
Western Force:Donaldson; Grealy, Proctor, Stewart, Pietsch; Harford, White (capt); Robertson, Paenga-Amosa, Hoskins, Carter, Swain, Harris, Champion de Crespigny, Ekuasi.
Replacements: Dolly, Pearce, Tauakipulu, Faifua, Prinsep, Robertson, Burey, Kuenzle.
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British & Irish Lions:Daly; Hansen, Ringrose, Tuipulotu, Lowe; Russell, Williams; Schoeman, Sheehan, Furlong, Cummings, McCarthy, Beirne, Van der Flier, Pollock.
Replacements: Kelleher, Porter, Stuart, Chessum, Conan, Mitchell, Jones, M Smith.