Owen Farrell has been included among the replacements with Henry Pollock restored to the starting XV for the British and Irish Lions’ game with an Australia and New Zealand Invitational XV in Adelaide on Saturday.
Farrell, who was drafted into the squad by his father and head coach Andy after Elliot Daly’s arm injury against Queensland Reds, will start on the bench at the Adelaide Oval.
The 33-year-old could make his 19th Lions appearance from the bench with Munster’s Tadhg Beirne captaining the side for the second time in Australia as Maro Itoje is given a rest.
Beirne will line up alongside Leinster’s James Ryan in the second row behind Pierre Schoeman, Luke Cowan-Dickie and Will Stuart with Pollock, Jac Morgan and Ben Earl making up the back row.
Ben White and Fin Smith will link up at half-back with Sione Tuipulotu and Huw Jones in midfield and Hugo Keenan, Mack Hansen and Duhan van der Merwe combining in the back three.
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Henry Pollock will start for the Lions
England forward Pollock is back in the starting line-up after withdrawing from Saturday’s 21-10 victory over the Waratahs as a precaution with a tight calf.
The 20-year-old and his team-mates have one final opportunity to force his way into Farrell’s thinking one week out from the start of the Test series against the Wallabies on July 19, live on Sky Sports.
Lions team to face AUNZ Invitational XV
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Starting 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 (c), 6 Henry Pollock, 7 Jac Morgan, 8 Ben Earl.
Replacements: 16 Ronan Kelleher, 17 Andrew Porter, 18 Finlay Bealham, 19 Scott Cummings, 20 Josh van der Flier, 21 Alex Mitchell, 22 Marcus Smith, 23 Owen Farrell.
Sky Sports will exclusively show the 2025 British and Irish Lions tour of Australia, with all three Tests against the Wallabies and six warm-up matches to be shown exclusively live.
British and Irish Lions 2025 tour schedule
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