Lions pair Tuipulotu and Aki together for Pumas

BBC News

5 hours ago

British and Irish Lions v ArgentinaVenue: Aviva Stadium, Dublin Date: Friday, 20 June Kick-off: 20:00 BSTCoverage: Live text commentary on the BBC Sport website and app, and updates on BBC Radio 5 Live
Scotland's Sione Tuipulotu and Ireland's Bundee Aki will form the centre partnership for the British and Irish Lions against Argentina in Dublin on Friday night. Glasgow's Tuipulotu, who missed the Six Nations through injury, will be playing his first international rugby since Scotland's win over Australia in November and will pair up with Aki - despite both players appearing to be more natural inside centres.Head coach Andy Farrell is still without the majority of those who featured in domestic finals - with Leinster hooker Ronan Kelleher, who is named on the bench, the only player to feature for their club side last week who will be on show at the Aviva Stadium. Tour captain Maro Itoje will lead the side for the first time.
There is a welcome return for Tadhg Furlong, who has played just nine times this season because of various injuries and has not featured for Leinster since their defeat by Northampton in the Investec Champions Cup semi-finals last month.The tight-head will start on the bench, with his Ireland colleague Finlay Bealham to wear the three jersey after he replaced Scotland's Zander Fagerson in the squad when the Scotland prop was ruled out of the trip through injury. Two Northampton Saints club-mates, Alex Mitchell and Fin Smith, will team up at nine and 10.The touring party will depart for the southern hemisphere after the fixture, with their first game in Australia against the Western Force in Perth on 28 June.
Line-up
British and Irish Lions: Smith; Freeman, Tuipulotu, Aki, Van der Merwe; Smith, Mitchell; Genge, Cowan-Dickie, Bealham, Itoje, Beirne, Curry, Morgan, Earl.Replacements: Kelleher, Schoeman, Furlong, Cummings, Pollock, Williams, Daly, Hansen.
'Farrell has had hands tied' - analysis
The first Lions selection of a tour is always highly anticipated, and this is certainly no different, although Andy Farrell has had his hands tied somewhat by the fact 15 of his squad only arrived in camp on Monday.It means he has picked almost exclusively from players who were training in Portugal last week. The centre pairing catches the eye, with Bundee Aki and Sione Tuipulotu considered rivals for the Test number 12 jersey but playing together here, while Marcus Smith is at full-back with Hugo Keenan not in the 23 and Blair Kinghorn unavailable.There is familiarity in the form of the Northampton half-backs, two of nine Englishmen in the starting XV, but arguably the most significant selection comes on the bench, with Tadgh Furlong named as a replacement.Furlong was a rock of the Test team on the past two Lions tours, but has been dogged by injury of late. His return to fitness is a huge boost, especially with Zander Fagerson already ruled out.