Owen Farrell on the Lions bench for last warmup before Wallabies tests
Farrell hasn't played international rugby since the 2023 World Cup. By game day he will have played no rugby in nine weeks and only 18 minutes in the last 10 weeks.
The former England captain replaced the injured Elliot Daly to make it onto his fourth Lions tour.
He will play his 19th game for the Lions when he comes off the bench in what is a last chance for the team to impress coach Andy Farrell before the test series begins against Australia next week.
Their chances improved after the shadow Lions test side conceded four tries to the ACT Brumbies in a
scratchy 36-24 win
midweek.
Fullback Hugo Keenan makes his second tour appearance, and a timely one after his rival for the No. 15 test jersey, Blair Kinghorn, left the Brumbies win early with an injured left knee.
Scrumhalf Ben White gets his first start after replacing the injured Tomos Williams in the tour party in Australia.
The back row, still not fixed for the Lions, features Henry Pollock, Jac Morgan and No. 8 Ben Earl.
Forward Tadhg Beirne will captain the Lions for the second time after tour leader Maro Itoje was given another rest.
'We are in a great position just over a week out from the first test,' Andy Farrell said. 'The players now have another chance to put in a strong team performance and put a hand up for selection for the test matches against the Wallabies.'
The first combined Australia-New Zealand XV since the 1989 Lions tour has 17 internationals, including the entire starting side.
Coach Les Kiss, the Wallabies coach-in-waiting, picked Crusaders' Super Rugby-winning skipper David Havili and Queensland Reds forward Lukhan Salakaia-Loto as co-captains.
'The co-captaincy model with natural leaders like David and Lukhan (will) really suit this team and what we represent,' Kiss said. 'In forming new bonds many of them have discovered they have more in common than they originally thought.'
The Lions are 4-0 in Australia since a 28-24
loss to Argentina
in a warmup in Dublin. They have beaten all of Australia's Super Rugby franchises. Before the Brumbies, they defeated the
Western Force
,
Queensland Reds,
and New South Wales
Waratahs
.
The test series begins on July 19 in Brisbane, followed by games in Melbourne on July 26 and in Sydney on Aug. 2.
___
Lineups:
British and Irish Lions: Lions: Hugo Keenan (Ireland), Mack Hansen (Ireland), Huw Jones (Scotland), Sione Tuipulotu (Scotland), Duhan van Der Merwe (Scotland), Fin Smith (England), Ben White (Scotland); Ben Earl (England), Jac Morgan (Wales), Henry Pollock (England), Tadhg Beirne (Ireland, captain), James Ryan (Ireland), Will Stuart (England), Luke Cowan-Dickie (England), Pierre Schoeman (Scotland). Reserves: Ronan Kelleher (Ireland), Andrew Porter (Ireland), Finlay Bealham (Ireland), Scott Cummings (Scotland), Josh van der Flier (Ireland), Alex Mitchell (England), Marcus Smith (England) Owen Farrell (England).
AUNZ Invitational XV: Shaun Stevenson, AJ Lam, Ngani Laumape, David Havili (co-captain), Marika Koroibete, Tane Edmed, Folau Fakatava; Hoskins Sotutu, Pete Samu, Shannon Frizell, Lukhan Salakaia-Loto (co-captain), Angus Blyth, Jeffery Toomaga-Allen, Brandon Paenga-Amosa, Aidan Ross. Reserves: Kurt Eklund, Joshua Fusita'a, George Dyer, Matt Philip, Joe Brial, Kalani Thomas, Harry McLaughlin-Phillips, Jock Campbell.
___
AP rugby:
https://apnews.com/hub/rugby
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
34 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Untouchable Scotney shines, but Marshall suffers defeat
Ellie Scotney shined for the British contingent at Madison Square Garden, but there was defeat for Savannah Marshall in New York. Four Britons were making their promotional debuts for Jake Paul's Most Valuable Promotions on the undercard of Katie Taylor v Amanda Serrano 3. Advertisement There were point wins for Scotney, Ramla Ali and Chantelle Cameron as Scotney became the WBO, IBF and WBC super-bantamweight world champion in just her eleventh professional fight. England's Scotney, 27, fought like a champion with a point to prove as she added the WBC belt to her growing collection by beating Yamileth Mercado on points. On a night when there were 17 world titles across five fights, Catford's Scotney went home with three of them and is now just one belt away from becoming undisputed. "I have had a real test in the past few months as everyone knows. I lost my dear friend Georgia, so tonight was for her," Scotney said. Advertisement "She was 25 years old, she was a fighter and she lost her battle to cancer. Tonight, I made sure her name is remembered in Madison Square Garden." Mercado was outclassed over 10 rounds by the speed and movement of Scotney, spending most of the fight chasing the Englishwoman's shadow. Such was her dominance, Scotney's hands slowly dropped further and further through the rounds as she began to toy with the Mexican, who had to battle a bad cut from round four. Scotney showed off her entire arsenal by the final bell, but couldn't find the telling blow that would have secured the stoppage. Advertisement Marshall suffers narrow defeat to Green Savannah Marshall's last fight was July 2023 [Getty Images] Marshall had not fought in a boxing ring for two years, but still had hold of one of her world titles, the IBF, when she passed through the ropes. The English fighter is a former undisputed champion at super-middleweight but, in her absence, Green had risen to world champion status with the WBO belt. Hartlepool's Marshall started well showing little ring rust, even smiling as she quickly seized control, walking down Green, who was deducted a point for holding. The 34-year-old clipped Green on several occasions but the fight turned in round five when the American landed a big left hand. Advertisement Marshall endured two draining rounds and was hurt several times under pressure from Green. Despite having the momentum, Green's variety let her down and Marshall was able to weather the storm and clear her head. The fight was finely balanced in the final four minutes, a testament to both fighters relying almost exclusively on winding up their big punches. Marshall and Green were exhausted when the final bell sounded and both women cut nervous figures in the centre of the ring as the scorecards were read out. One judge saw it 96-93 for Marshall, while the other scorecards read 95-94 and 96-93 for Green. Advertisement It is only Marshall's second defeat, the first being to Claressa Shields in 2022, but after such a close fight, she could be in the frame for an immediate rematch with Green. Ali scraps by Furtado in controversial win Every judge scored the fight for Ramla Ali [Getty Images] Light-welterweight Cameron and super-bantamweight Ali also collected wins on the undercard. Cameron, 34, put herself in contention to fight the winner of Taylor v Serrano with a wide points win over Jessica Camara. The Northampton fighter retained her position as the number one contender to the WBC light-welterweight world title with her 21st career victory. But Ali, 35, was involved in a contentious decision win over Brazil's Lila Furtado. Advertisement The Briton had been out of the ring for 13 months and a game Furtado appeared to be cruising to a win. But Furtado left the ring in disgust when Ali got a clean sweep on the scorecards. "I thought I won," Ali said afterwards. "I thought the drop in the second round should have been scored as a knockdown. I knew from then, yeah it got really messy, but I knew I was edging it because of the knockdown. "Everyone has their opinions and not shying away from it, I do believe I won the fight." More boxing from the BBC
Yahoo
39 minutes ago
- Yahoo
'Work your arse off': age-old advice for Saints
Almost four decades later the advice keeps ageing well for St Kilda coach Ross Lyon. He was a hard-nosed utility at Fitzroy in 1986 under legendary coach David Parkin, dealing with injury in his second season. As the 15th-placed Saints take a four-game losing streak into Sunday's Marvel Stadium game against Sydney, Lyon says nothing has changed about the attitude needed to lift themselves out of the bottom four. "David Parkin, when I was a young kid in 1986 ... as an AFL player, every day, you get up, you've got to work your arse off to get better," Lyon said this week. "The game is giving us feedback. Three-and-a-half quarters or poor execution doesn't get it done. "It has to be great spirit and great execution." The Saints pushed Hawthorn last weekend and also had their moments in previous losses to Fremantle and Collingwood. The only disaster in this losing streak was the round-15 shocker against the Western Bulldogs. But a lack of polish is costing them dearly. "I thought we were fantastic - contested ball, pressure, all the metrics indicated we probably should have been able to win ... bar our execution," Lyon said of the Hawthorn loss. "We just made some errors behind the ball, we coughed up some simple goals and left a lot on the table. "I'm strongly of the view we played with great spirit. We don't need to rectify anything. I'd like to perpetuate it, but as we know, you're only as good as your next moment. "There were some really good signs from us, without being perfect, obviously." The Saints have made three changes, giving 204cm ruckman Max "Moose" Heath his AFL debut, while recalling Liam Stocker and Hugh Boxshall. Meanwhile, if anyone is to bridge the gulf between the top nine and bottom nine on the ladder with seven rounds left, it will be Sydney. But the Swans have their work cut out and must win on Sunday, which looms as a danger game. They are 10th, three games plus a sizeable chunk of percentage behind eighth spot. Injuries aren't helping with Tom Papley and Joel Amartey significant casualties this week. Riley Bice and Aarong Francis will take their places. Unless Sydney make the finals, this will be their last game in Melbourne for the year.
Yahoo
41 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Blair Kinghorn injury: Andy Farrell issues new update after Lions star limps off early in Brumbies win
Injury blow: Blair Kinghorn limped off after only 25 minutes for the Lions against the Brumbies in Canberra (Getty Images) Andy Farrell is hopeful that Blair Kinghorn avoided serious injury during the British and Irish Lions' win over the ACT Brumbies. The France-based Scotland star was making just his second appearance of the tour during Wednesday's clash in Canberra, having joined up with the squad late in Australia after helping Toulouse to successfully defend their Top 14 title. Advertisement The versatile Kinghorn had featured on the wing in Saturday's scrappy 21-10 victory over the New South Wales Waratahs in Sydney, where he has been playing for his club, though reverted to his more familiar international position of full-back against the Brumbies, looking to cement his status as the likely starting Test 15 ahead of the likes of Hugo Keenan and Marcus Smith. However, the 28-year-old suffered a painful early knock at the GIO Stadium and could not shake it off as he tried to play on, moving uncomfortably before limping off in frustrated fashion after 25 minutes and replaced by Smith, who went on to score the Lions' third try of the night in a 36-24 victory and then set up the fourth for Garry Ringrose. Asked for further news on Kinghorn after the game following an initial half-time update from forwards coach John Dalziel, Lions boss Farrell told Sky Sports: 'I was just speaking to him then, someone landed on his knee and he felt a little bit of something. 'He's walking around so hopefully it's not too serious.' Advertisement Farrell would be at pains to lose another key player to injury ahead of the looming Test series against Australia which starts in Brisbane on July 19, having already seen both Tomos Williams and Elliot Daly fly home with tour-ending issues to follow Zander Fagerson being ruled out before the trip. Daly and Kinghorn both offer significant versatility to the Lions with their ability to cover multiple positions in the backs. It was a thoroughly mixed display overall from what many believed to be the likely Lions Test team against a spirited Brumbies outfit missing most of their Australian internationals, with steps forward in attack marred by continued problems at the breakdown. 'There was some really good stuff I thought, especially in the first half, there was some really nice, flowing attacking play and a nice tempo,' Farrell said of his side's performance in Canberra. Advertisement 'But on the flip side, we kept them in the game a little bit. We dominated field position but we just kept them in with a sniff, especially when you get over the line three times and don't convert. 'Congratulations to the Brumbies, they came out of the blocks pretty well and stayed in the fight right until the last minute.'
