British and Irish Lions: Owen Farrell on bench as Henry Pollock starts vs AUNZ XV | Rugby Union News


Owen Farrell has been included among the replacements with Henry Pollock restored to the starting XV for the British and Irish Lions’ game with an Australia and New Zealand Invitational XV in Adelaide on Saturday.

Farrell, who was drafted into the squad by his father and head coach Andy after Elliot Daly’s arm injury against Queensland Reds, will start on the bench at the Adelaide Oval.

The 33-year-old could make his 19th Lions appearance from the bench with Munster’s Tadhg Beirne captaining the side for the second time in Australia as Maro Itoje is given a rest.

Beirne will line up alongside Leinster’s James Ryan in the second row behind Pierre Schoeman, Luke Cowan-Dickie and Will Stuart with Pollock, Jac Morgan and Ben Earl making up the back row.

Ben White and Fin Smith will link up at half-back with Sione Tuipulotu and Huw Jones in midfield and Hugo Keenan, Mack Hansen and Duhan van der Merwe combining in the back three.

Henry Pollock
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Henry Pollock will start for the Lions

England forward Pollock is back in the starting line-up after withdrawing from Saturday’s 21-10 victory over the Waratahs as a precaution with a tight calf.

The 20-year-old and his team-mates have one final opportunity to force his way into Farrell’s thinking one week out from the start of the Test series against the Wallabies on July 19, live on Sky Sports.

Lions team to face AUNZ Invitational XV

Starting XV: 15 Hugo Keenan, 14 Mack Hansen, 13 Huw Jones, 12 Sione Tuipulotu, 11 Duhan van der Merwe, 10 Fin Smith, 9 Ben White; 1 Pierre Schoeman, 2 Luke Cowan-Dickie, 3 Will Stuart, 4 James Ryan, 5 Tadhg Beirne (c), 6 Henry Pollock, 7 Jac Morgan, 8 Ben Earl.

Replacements: 16 Ronan Kelleher, 17 Andrew Porter, 18 Finlay Bealham, 19 Scott Cummings, 20 Josh van der Flier, 21 Alex Mitchell, 22 Marcus Smith, 23 Owen Farrell.

Sky Sports will exclusively show the 2025 British and Irish Lions tour of Australia, with all three Tests against the Wallabies and six warm-up matches to be shown exclusively live.

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Watch the British and Irish Lions’ tour of Australia exclusively live on Sky Sports this summer.

British and Irish Lions 2025 tour schedule

Date Opponent Venue
Friday, June 20 Argentina (L 28-24) Dublin
Saturday, June 28 Western Force (W 54-7) Perth
Wednesday, July 2 Queensland Reds (W 52-12) Brisbane
Saturday, July 5 NSW Waratahs (W 21-10) Sydney
Wednesday, July 9 ACT Brumbies (W 36-24) Canberra
Saturday, July 12 Invitational AU-NZ Adelaide
Saturday, July 19 AUSTRALIA (first Test) Brisbane
Wednesday, July 22 First Nations & Pasifika XV Melbourne
Saturday, July 26 AUSTRALIA (second Test) Melbourne
Saturday, August 2 AUSTRALIA (third Test) Sydney

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