Owen Farrell has played his way onto the Lions bench for Saturday’s second Test against Australia in Melbourne. The former England captain is set to make his first international appearance since the third-place play-off at the 2023 World Cup if he comes on.
Boss Andy Farrell has made three changes to his starting line-up with Ellis Genge dropped to the replacements in favour of Ireland prop Andrew Porter. As expected, Ollie Chessum comes into the second row for Joe McCarthy who has a foot injury and Bundee Aki replaces Sione Tuipulotu, who is out of the 23 entirely in the centre.
The starting line-up contains nine Irishmen, with two more on the bench, and seven of the starters come from Leinster. Owen Farrell was a late arrival on tour, coming as a replacement for Elliot Daly, and will be making his seventh Lions Test appearance if he comes on.
He played 80 minutes of the tourists’ 24-19 win over a First Nations & Pasifika XV on Tuesday and is joined on the bench by Wales Jac Morgan. Flanker Morgan, the only Welshman still on tour, replaces Ben Earl whilst Blair Kinghorn is also a replacement at the expense of Marcus Smith.
The back three remains the same that helped the Lions beat the Wallabies 27-19 in the opener despite the struggles of Tommy Freeman and James Lowe in Brisbane.
The Lions can nail the Test series with a win at the Melbourne Cricket Ground this weekend but boss Farrell is expecting an Aussie backlash.
He said: “We have put ourselves in a good position but we know there will be a massive reaction from the Wallaby team.
“The opportunity to play in front of 100,000 supporters at the MCG, one of the world’s most iconic stadiums is what makes Lions’ tours unique and special.”
Australia v British & Irish Lions, Saturday, 11am
Lions: Hugo Keenan, Tommy Freeman, Huw Jones, Bundee Aki, James Lowe; Finn Russell, Jamison Gibson-Park, Andrew Porter, Dan Sheehan, Tadhg Furlong, Maro Itoje (capt), Ollie Chessum, Tadhg Beirne, Tom Curry, Jack Conan
Replacements: Ronan Kelleher, Ellis Genge, Will Stuart, James Ryan, Jac Morgan, Alex Mitchell, Owen Farrell, Blair Kinghorn
Ref: A.Piardi (ITA)
