Dan Sheehan to captain Lions against Western Force
Dan Sheehan
will captain the British & Irish
Lions
in the first game on Australian soil when the tourists take on Western Force at the Optus stadium in Perth on Saturday (11am Irish time).
Andy Farrell
has given the Leinster and Ireland hooker the honour of leading a matchday 23 that includes 11 Irish players.
Sheehan is one of five starters in Perth, alongside Leinster team-mates
Garry Ringrose
,
James Lowe
,
Joe McCarthy
and
Josh van der Flier
, all of whom will make their Lions debuts this weekend at the Optus Stadium.
A further four players are set to make their Lions debuts off the bench – England and Leicester Tigers lock Ollie Chessum, Scotland and Glasgow Warriors centre Huw Jones, Ireland and Leinster prop Andrew Porter and England and Bath prop Will Stuart.
READ MORE
'We have had a good week of training, and all of the travel and time zone changes have been managed really well, so we are good to go,' said Farrell.
'Dan Sheehan gets the opportunity to lead the side against Western Force, which is a great honour for him and his family, so congratulations to Dan as he captains the side on his Lions debut.
'We know the quality and experience the Force have and the opportunity to play against the Lions always brings out special performances from the Super Rugby sides, so we expect them to be at their best,' Farrell added.
LIONS:
Elliot Daly (Saracens/England); Mack Hansen (Connacht/Ireland), Garry Ringrose (Leinster/Ireland), Sione Tuipulotu (Glasgow Warriors/Scotland), James Lowe (Leinster/Ireland); Finn Russell (Bath/Scotland), Tomos Williams (Gloucester/Wales); Pierre Schoeman (Edinburgh/Scotland), Dan Sheehan (Leinster/Ireland, capt), Tadhg Furlong (Leinster/Ireland); Scott Cummings (Glasgow Warriors/ Scotland), Joe McCarthy (Leinster/Ireland); Tadhg Beirne (Munster/Ireland), Josh van der Flier (Leinster/Ireland), Henry Pollock (Northampton Saints/England).
Replacements:
Ronan Kelleher (Leinster/Ireland), Andrew Porter (Leinster/Ireland), W Stuart (Bath/England), Ollie Chessum (Leicester Tigers/England), Jack Conan (Leinster/Ireland), Alex Mitchell (Northampton Saints/England), Huw Jones (Glasgow Warriors/Scotland), Marcus Smith (Harlequins/ England).
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