Ireland’s Dan Sheehan will captain the British and Irish Lions in their opening game on Australian soil against the Western Force on Saturday.
The hooker is one of five players in the starting line-up who will make their Lions debut in Perth, his Leinster team-mates Garry Ringrose, James Lowe, Joe McCarthy and Josh van der Flier being the others.
Four more Lions are set to make their debut off the bench – lock Ollie Chessum, centre Huw Jones, and props Andrew Porter and Will Stuart.
Northampton tyro Henry Pollock will make his first start at number eight having come off the bench in the defeat by Argentina in Dublin last Friday.
Head coach Andy Farrell is still without scrum-half Jamison Gibson-Park and Hugo Keenan, both inching their way back from injury, so Elliot Daly is in at full-back and Tomos Williams is rewarded for a fine cameo against the Pumas in Dublin with a start in the nine jersey.
Finn Russell, who made three appearances on the tour of South Africa in 2021, will start at fly-half.
Farrell goes with a new midfield combination in Ringrose and Scotland’s Sione Tuipulotu, who will make successive starts.
Tuipulotu and Tadhg Beirne are the only two players selected to start against Argentina and the Force, albeit both have moved position, the Scot from outside to inside centre and the Irishman from lock to blindside flanker.
