What’s happening?
Andy Farrell’s British & Irish Lions play Joe Schmidt’s Wallabies in the opener of their three-Test series against Australia.
When and where?
The game will be played on Saturday, July 19th, at Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane, Queensland. Kick-off is at 11am Irish time.
Slow Lions build-up finally culminates in Test week
Where can I watch?
The match will be televised live on Sky Sports Main Event.
The Irish Times will also have live updates of the game, as well as reaction, player ratings and analysis from our team of writers.
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[ Five areas where the Australia v Lions Test series will be won and lostOpens in new window ]
Have we any team news?
Eight Irish players have been named by Andy Farrell in the British and Irish Lions starting XV for Saturday’s First Test against Australia in Brisbane’s Suncorp Stadium, kick-off 8pm local time/11am Irish.
There are also another three on the bench, although there is no place for Josh van der Flier.
As expected, Hugo Keenan starts at fullback, with James Lowe on the left wing and Jamison Gibson-Park at scrumhalf. As well as Dan Sheehan and Tadhg Furlong, an ever-present in the last two Test series, there is Joe McCarthy, Jack Conan at number eight and Tadhg Beirne at blindside flanker.
Conan also played in every match in the last series, while Beirne was a replacement in the first two Tests.
Ronan Kelleher, who wasn’t afforded a minute’s action four years ago, will make his Lions Test debut off the bench, which also includes Andrew Porter, who missed out on the South African tour due to injury, and Bundee Aki. A little surprisingly, having started the Third Test four years ago, the Connacht centre loses out to Sione Tuipulotu.
In the enforced absence of Garry Ringrose, Tuipulotu is accompanied by Glasgow midfield partner Huw Jones and outhalf Finn Russell, while in addition to Tommy Freeman, there are three English forwards: Ellis Genge, captain Maro Itoje and Tom Curry.
Despite starting only one game on this tour at openside, Curry is another of the four forwards who also started the Third Test in South Africa and thus preferred to van der Flier and the sole Welsh squad member, Jack Morgan, which means the Lions will be without Welsh representation in a Test for the first time since the 19th century.
The bench is completed by five English players, namely Will Stuart, Ollie Chessum, Ben Earl, Alex Mitchell and Marcus Smith.
BRITISH & IRISH LIONS: H Keenan (Ireland), T Freeman (England), H Jones (Scotland), S Tuipulotu (Scotland), J Lowe (Ireland), F Russell (Scotland), J Gibson-Park (Ireland), E Genge (England), D Sheehan (Ireland), T Furlong (Ireland); M Itoje (England) – captain, J McCarthy (Ireland), T Beirne (Ireland), T Curry (England), J Conan (Ireland). Replacements: R Kelleher (Ireland), A Porter (Ireland), W Stuart (England), O Chessum (England), B Earl (England), A Mitchell (England), M Smith (England), B Aki (Ireland)
Joe Schmidt has gambled on the 22-year-old Reds outhalf Tom Lynagh to fill the void left by Noal Lolesion’s absence by handing him his full international debut in Saturday’s First Test against the British and Irish Lions in Brisbane’s Suncorp Stadium.
The Wallabies head coach has also rolled the dice by naming Nick Champion de Crespigny for his Test debut in the absence of influential, ball-carrying backrower Rob Valetini, the back-to-back winner of the John Eales Medal, awarded to Australia’s player of the year, who has been sidelined with a calf injury.
AUSTRALIA: T Wright, M Jorgensen, J Suaalii, L Ikitau, H Potter, T Lynagh, J Gordon, J Slipper, M Faessler, A Alaalatoa, N Frost, J Williams, N Champion de Crespigny, F McReight, H Wilson
Replacements: B Pollard, A Bell, T Robertson, T Hooper, C Tizzano, T McDermott, B Donaldson, A Kellaway
How has the Lions tour gone so far?
The Lions got an unexpected send-off in Dublin last month, suffering a 28-24 defeat to Argentina.
While the results certainly improved when the pride landed in Australia, some issues have persisted. The wins over Western Force and the Queensland Reds flattered the tourists, Andy Farrell’s team putting 50+ points past their opponents on both occasions, but their subsequent victories over the Waratahs and the Brumbies were unconvincing.
Of course, those games were only warm-ups for what is yet to come, so perhaps can be viewed as experiments rather than indicators of form, but they may also serve as a warning that this series may not be the walk in the park that had been expected.
Wallabies warm-ups?
Australia played just one warm-up game ahead of the Test series, facing the Flying Fijians in Newcastle (the Australian one, not the England one) on July 6th.
[ Australia secure controversial late win over Fiji with disputed tryOpens in new window ]
Joe Schmidt’s side came away with a 21-18 win, but Fiji can feel a little hard done by after a late try for Harry Wilson was awarded despite there being no clear evidence he had grounded the ball.
