Key occasions
Pre match discourse
Rob Kitson previews the match
And listed below are Ugo Monye’s ideas
For a Lions follower, a lot of theses opening tour matches are all about gathering data and intelligence to tell the dialogue of who will probably be within the Take a look at squad. The cynical fan will level out that Andy Farrell doubtless picked his workforce in 2023 and is unlikely to budge a lot from that; however what are you trying ahead to discovering out at this time?
Let me find out about this, or the rest on the e-mail. I await your correspondence just like the overworked Tadhg Beirne awaits every week off from enjoying rugby.
Groups
As is the wont and want of a Lions coach, Andy Farrell has made loads of modifications to the aspect from final week with solely Tadhg Beirne and Sione Tuipulotu retaining their beginning berths. Amongst many swaps, Finn Russell has his first tour begin at stand-off and England youngling Henry Pollock begins the sport at Quantity 8.
There are six Wallabies within the beginning XV for Western Power together with Nic White, Ben Donaldson, and Darcy Swain. There isn’t any Kurtley Beale, nonetheless, who was dominated out with a hamstring damage.
British & Irish Lions
15 Elliot Daly; 14 Mack Hansen, 13 Garry Ringrose, 12 Sione Tuipulotu, 11 James Lowe; 10 Finn Russell, 9 Tomos Williams; 1 Pierre Schoeman, 2 Dan Sheehan (captain), 3 Tadhg Furlong; 4 Scott Cummings, 5 Joe McCarthy; 6 Tadhg Beirne, 7 Josh van der Flier, 8 Henry Pollock.
Replacements: 16 Ronan Kelleher, 17 Andrew Porter, 18 Will Stuart, 19 Ollie Chessum, 20 Jack Conan, 21 Alex Mitchell, 22 Huw Jones, 23 Marcus Smith
Western Power
15 Ben Donaldson; 14 Mac Grealy; 13 Matt Proctor, 12 Hamish Stewart,; 11 Dylan Pietsch; 10 Alex Harford, 9 Nic White (c); 1 Tom Robertson, 2 Brandon Paenga-Amosa, 3 Ollie Hoskins; 4 Sam Carter, 5 Darcy Swain; 6 Will Harris, 7 Nick Champion de Crespigny, 8 1 Vaiolini Ekuasi
Replacements: 16 Nic Dolly, 17 Marley Pearce, 18 Tiaan Tauakipulu, 19 Lopeti Faifua, 20 Reed Prinsep, 21 Henry Robertson, 22 Max Burey, 23 Bayley Kuenzle
Preamble
There’s a lot mystique in regards to the British & Irish Lions; mainly born of the legendary victorious excursions of the early Nineteen Seventies and the 1997 outing to South Africa with it’s related documentary. This has led many to imagine and count on that the Lions is about profitable, however for years the excursions had been extra about taking the notion of residence nation and nostalgia out to the colonies as a celebration of the putative elements that united us. Shedding general normally got here in tandem with this.
Helpful then, that this 12 months’s tour has managed to uphold custom and heritage by shedding good and early so all of the “invincibles” chat might be shushed. Nonetheless, the loss v Argentina was not technically half of the particular tour, so perhaps not. Both means, that is the primary recreation on Aussie soil and Andy Farrell and his males will probably be raring to have a W on the board earlier than they cross the nation to Queensland later within the week.
In the way in which is a Western Power aspect with some take a look at expertise smattered throughout them, not least in skilled scrum half Nic White. A unusual stat among the many caps is substitute Australian hooker Nic Dolly, together with his solely take a look at look being single recreation in 2021… for England.
This ought to be a pleasant and cozy opener down below for the vacationers, however let’s see we could?
