The British and Irish Lions will be led by captain Dan Sheehan for their first match in Australia with Henry Pollock and Finn Russell starting against the Western Force
Henry Pollock will get his first Lions start at No.8 in Saturday’s game against Western Force in Perth with the Lions aiming to bounce back from defeat to Argentina.
Pollock got half an hour off the bench in the 28-24 reverse to the Pumas in Dublin but gets a chance to stake a Test claim after being names ahead of Ireland’s Jack Conan, who is on the bench.
Irish hooker Dan Sheehan will captain the side, in the absence of rested tour skipper, with the starting XV showing 13 personnel changes and two positional switches. With Ireland’s Hugo Keenan sidelined, England’s Elliot Daly gets a huge chance to push his case for the series against the Wallabies as he starts at full-back.
Scotland ’s Sione Tuipulotu is shifted to inside centre and Ireland’s Tadhg Beirne, another Dublin starter, moves to the back row from lock.
Elsewhere Finn Russell links up with Wales Tomos Williams, impressive off the bench in Dublin, at half-back and there are Lions debuts for Sheehan, centre Garry Ringrose, wing James Lowe, lock Joe McCarthy and flanker Josh van der Flier.
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England duo prop Will Stuart and lock Ollie Chessum, Scotland centre Huw Jones and Irish prop Andrew Porter will make their first Lions appearance if they come off the bench. Force finished Super Rugby ninth of 11 with four wins and will be missing three players who are in Australia camp although six have been released back to the province by Aussie boss Joe Schmidt.
Western Force head coach Simon Cron has named six Wallabies in the starting XV – prop Tom Robertson, lock Darcy Swain, back row Nick Champion de Crespigny, captain and scrum-half Nic White, wing Dylan Pietsch and full-back Ben Donaldson. They will link up with the Australian squad on Sunday after the game to prepare for the pre-series match against Fiji on 6 July.
Former London Irish prop Ollie Hoskins starts for the hosts and ex-Leicester hooker, Nic Dolly, capped once by England is on the bench.
But 95-cap Wallaby Kurtley Beale misses the game after injuring a hamstring in training in Tuesday so Donaldson starts at 15. Donaldson had not originally been released by Schmidt but flew back from Sydney to Perth to play in the match which is expected to attract 50,000 fans at Optus Stadium.
Other Force players, lock Jeremy Williams, back row Carlo Tizzano and another ex-Tiger, winger Harry Potter have been kept in Wallaby camp.
Western Force vs Lions teams
Western Force: B.Donaldson; M.Grealy, M.Proctor, H.Stewart, D.Pietsch; A.Harford, N.White (capt); T.Robertson, B.Paenga-Amosa, O.Hoskins, S.Carter, D.Swain, W.Harris, N.Champion de Crespigny, V.Ekuasi
Replacements: N.Dolly, M.Pearce, T.Tauakipulu, L.Faifua, R.Prinsep, H.Robertson, M.Burey, B.Kuenzle
Lions: E.Daly; M.Hansen, G.Ringrose, S.Tuipulotu, J.Lowe; F.Russell, T.Williams; P.Schoeman, D.Sheehan (capt), T.Furlong, S.Cummings, J.McCarthy, T.Beirne, J.Van der Flier, H.Pollock
Replacements: R.Kelleher, A.Porter, W.Stuart, O.Chessum, J.Conan, A.Mitchell, H.Jones, M.Smith
