Dual burning purpose fires AUSNZ against British Lions
Owen Farrell, here handing off against the Wallabies in 2022, is back for the British Lions. (Jono Searle/AAP PHOTOS) Credit: AAP
The Australian and New Zealand invitational team carry dual burning motivations against the British and Irish Lions, assistant coach Simon Cron says.
The combined AUSNZ outfit, firstly, hope to put a dent in the pre-Test plans of the unbeaten tourists on Saturday night at Adelaide Oval.
And secondly, many Australians and New Zealanders are hellbent on pushing their Test selection cases in a high-stakes audition -the first AUSNZ fixture against the Lions in 36 years.
"Every time you cross the white line, those boys are driven to be successful," Cron told reporters at Adelaide Oval on Friday.
"There will be some on the fringe of the All Blacks and some on the fringe of the Wallabies so they will be driving their cases.
"And for other boys, this is a really big life experience and the opportunity to drive themselves to a higher level."
Lions coach Andy Farrell has named his son and ex-England captain Owen Farrell on the bench for their last tune-up ahead of the first Test against the Wallabies in Brisbane on July 19.
Farrell hasn't played a Test since 2023 and is coming off an injury-troubled season in France, but was summoned to the squad to replace the injured Elliot Daly.
His inclusion on his fourth Lions tour has been defended by Andy Farrell, who says his son is no different to other teammates in needing to rapidly revise the playbook.
"He's the same as everyone else who has had to get up to speed pretty quickly," Farrell told reporters in Adelaide.
"Everyone had to at the start and a few have come in since.
"The art of this stage of the tour is mentally being as switched on as you possibly can, there's not that much training that you can do."
The Lions camp was relieved at scan results clearing Scotland fullback Blair Kinghorn of a serious knee injury suffered early in Wednesday night's win over the Brumbies.
With Daly's broken arm and patchy form of Ireland's Hugo Keenan, Irish fullback Jamie Osborne will join the Lions as training cover.
Farrell also recalled winger Mack Hansen and loose forward Henry Pollock to meet an AUSNZ team boasting 17 internationals.
"As a unit, how they gel together, there's a little bit of unknown there," Farrell said of their hosts.
"It looks like a formidable side that is going to be hard to stop."
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