Lions vs AUNZ: Owen Farrell Substitute, Tadhg Beirne Captain and News in the XV.

Owen Farrell on the bench for the next Lions match

Former England captain Owen Farrell has been selected among the substitutes for the British & Irish Lions tour match against an Australia-New Zealand Invitational XV in Adelaide on Saturday. Ireland’s Tadhg Beirne will captain the Lions for the second time, as Maro Itoje, who captained in the victory against the ACT Brumbies on Wednesday, will rest. The Lions also announced that Scottish fullback Blair Kinghorn received “positive news” after a scan of a knee injury suffered early in the victory over the Brumbies on Wednesday. There was a fear that the injury could be serious, causing a possible headache for head coach Andy Farrell in the fullback position, following the serious injury that ended Elliot Daly’s tour and the inconsistent form of Irishman Hugo Keenan. Jamie Osborne will join the Lions to provide additional training coverage, leaving the Ireland team in Portugal.

The Lions head coach, Andy Farrell, included his son Owen in the team last week following Daly’s broken arm, which ruled him out of the three-match series against the Wallabies. Farrell, 33, joins despite not having played a test since 2023 and after a season plagued by injuries in French club rugby. The matchday squad has changed a lot from the lineup that fought for a 36-24 victory over the ACT Brumbies in Canberra on Wednesday, although several players have been retained. Wing Mack Hansen and flanker Henry Pollock, who played off the bench against the Brumbies, were included in the starting fifteen. English back Marcus Smith has also been retained on the bench after replacing Kinghorn in Canberra. Andy Farrell, who defended Owen’s inclusion last week, said on Thursday that his son was no different from other teammates in needing to quickly catch up with the Lions’ playbook. It’s the same as everyone else who has had to catch up pretty quickly. Andy Farrell Farrell’s team will face 14 test players in the AUNZ lineup led by Les Kiss at the Adelaide Oval, their final test before the first test against Australia on July 19. The team’s coach said that the opponents’ team is a bit unknown, and that they seem like a formidable team that will be difficult to stop.