Sean O’Brien and Conor Murray will make their first appearances of the Lions 2017 Tour of New Zealand against The Crusaders this Saturday.
The pair are among four Irish players named in Warren Gatland’s starting fifteen. Tadhg Furlong and Peter O’Mahony will make their first Lions starts of this year’s tour, having came off the bench in their first appearances.
CJ Stander, Jack McGrath and Johnny Sexton have been named on the bench for Saturday’s clash.
Head Coach Warren Gatland has kept his promise of giving all 41 members of the Lions squad at least one start in the opening three games.
Nine of the starting 15 were part of the Lions 2013 Tour of Australia, with Alun Wyn Jones set to captain the experienced side.
This continues the trend of every match so far on this years tour being captained by a Welshman.
After Wednesday’s loss to the Blues, the Crusaders will be an extremely tough test for the Lions. Their Coach Scott Robertson has named his team for the game, with seven All Blacks named in the starting lineup including full back Isreal Dagg and the entire tight five of Joe Moody, Codie Taylor, Owen Franks, Luke Romano and Sam Whitelock.
Another All Black, Wayne Crockett, is starting from the bench.
Here are the lineups.
British & Irish Lions v Crusaders, Saturday, June 10th, 8.35am BST)
Lions: S Hogg (Scotland), G North, J Davies (both Wales), B Te’o (England), L Williams (Wales), O Farrell (England), C Murray (Ireland), M Vunipola, J George (both England), T Furlong (Ireland), A W Jones (Wales, capt), G Kruis (England), P O’Mahony, S O’Brien (both Ireland), T Faletau (Wales).
Replacements: K Owens (Wales), J McGrath (Ireland), D Cole, M Itoje (both England), CJ Stander (Ireland), R Webb (Wales), J Sexton (Ireland), A Watson (England).
CRUSADERS: Israel Dagg; Seta Tamanivalu, Jack Goodhue, David Havili, George Bridge; Richie Mo’unga, Bryn Hall; Joe Moody, Codie Taylor, Owen Franks, Luke Romano, Sam Whitelock (capt), Heiden Bedwell-Curtis, Matt Todd, Jordan Taufua.
Replacements: Ben Funnell, Wyatt Crockett, Michael Alaalatoa, Quinten Strange, Jed Brown, Mitchell Drummond, Mitchell Hunt, Tim Bateman.
