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Rugby: Captain Sheehan To Lead Lions Against Force
Western Force v British and Irish Lions
Venue: Optus Stadium, Perth Date: Saturday, 28 June Kick-off: 11.00 BST
Coverage: Live text commentary on the BBC Sport website and app
Ireland’s Dan Sheehan will captain the British and Irish Lions in their opening game on Australian soil against the Western Force on Saturday.
The hooker is one of five players in the starting line-up who will make their Lions debut in Perth, his Leinster team-mates Garry Ringrose, James Lowe, Joe McCarthy and Josh van der Flier being the others.
Four more Lions are set to make their debut off the bench – lock Ollie Chessum, centre Huw Jones, and props Andrew Porter and Will Stuart.
Northampton tyro Henry Pollock will make his first start at number eight having come off the bench against Argentina last Friday night.
Head coach Andy Farrell is still without scrum-half Jamison Gibson-Park and Hugo Keenan, both inching their way back from injury, so Elliot Daly is in at full-back and Tomos Williams is rewarded for a fine cameo against the Pumas in Dublin with a start in the nine jersey.
Finn Russell, who made three appearances on the tour of South Africa in 2021, will start at fly-half.
Farrell goes with a new midfield combination in Ringrose and Scotland’s Sione Tuipulotu, who will make successive starts.
Tuipulotu and Tadhg Beirne are the only two players selected to start against Argentina and the Force, albeit both have moved position, the Scot from outside to inside centre and the Irishman from lock to blindside flanker.
Sheehan taking the captaincy is no real surprise. There were other contenders – Tuipulotu for one and Beirne for another – but the hooker is arguably the best man in his position in the world, a devastating force in attack as well as in the fundamentals of front-row play.
An early shout – probably unwise – Sheehan could prove himself to be the man of the series
There’s something about Russell’s inclusion that gives this team a feeling of show time, though.
The Bath fly-half is pure box office and is a more rounded player than at any point in his career. He can thrill but he can also control. This has to be Russell time. The Lions have said they want to attack and entertain and they have a genius at 10 on Saturday.
What he has outside him is a stellar backline.
Williams could be a bolter for the Test team and he starts at nine. There’s a hugely exciting combination of Ringrose at 13 and Tuipulotu at 12. Tuipulotu is back in his natural habitat at inside centre, as opposed to outside centre against the Pumas and you fancy that the Lions will be all the better for it.
Out wide, the Irish duo. Mack Hansen – bubbly, busy and intelligent – and Lowe – one of the most influential and cleverest wings in world rugby. This backline could fly.
Against the weakest of the Australian provincial sides, they must deliver, big-time. A tone must be set on Saturday.
British and 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
Bbc.com
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