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Strong Lions squad for first game against New Zealand Provincial Barbarians

Sam Warburton has hung up the boots. (AFP PHOTO / LOIC VENANCE)
Roar Guru
1st June, 2017
3

The British and Irish Lions have selected a strong team to take on the New Zealand Provincial Barbarians, in the first match of the 2017 tour, which takes place this Saturday.

Tour skipper, Sam Warburton, captains the side and is joined in the back row by Ross Moriarty and Toby Faletau. Iain Henderson and Alun Wyn-Jones are at lock with Rory Best in the front row, propped up by Joe Marler and Kyle Sinclair.

Greg Laidlaw and Jonny Sexton are at half-back, with Ben Te’o and Jonathan Joseph, continuing their English pairing at centre. Tommy Seymour and Anthony Watson are on the wings, with Stuart Hogg at full-back.

Jamie George, Mako Vunipola, Tadhg Furlong, George Kruis and Justin Tipuric are the forward replacements. With Rhys Webb, Owen Farrell and Jared Payne cover for the backs.

The team is a mixture of youth and experience, with 9 returning from the 2013 tour and 14 set to make their Lions’ debuts. Alun Wyn-Jones is on his third Lions tour. Several of the team are favourites to appear in the Test series and all will want to stake their claim.

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11 players, from the original 41 picked for this tour, were ruled out of the first game as they were appearing for their respective clubs last weekend.

There are 9 English, 6 Welsh and 5 Irish in the squad, along with all 3 Scottish Lions.

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The New Zealand Provincial Barbarians are a team made up of the best players from the Metre-10 and Heartland competition, which is a semi-professional club competition. New Zealand-born Jared Payne is a Provincial Barbarians alumnus and will hope to appear against his former team.

All Black legends, Sean Fitzpatrick, Christian Cullen, John Kirwan and Grant Fox have also appeared for the Barbarians.

At least one player on the Barbarians side will be known to the Lions squad, as Bryn Gatland, son of Lions’ coach Warren, will turn out on Saturday.

The Barbarians usually play in scarlet jerseys but the team have commissioned a special jersey to mark the occasion (as their usual jersey would clash with the Lions’ colours).

The Lions will want to get the tour off to a strong start and the players will want to hold their hands up for test selection by putting in a great performance. The tour starts here.

While the Provincial Barbarians will be the weakest opposition the Lions face, the NZPB players will still want to excel in what will be the biggest game of their lives.

The match takes place at Toll Stadium, Whangarei. The Lions played there in 1993, when it was know as Okara Park. The Lions beat North Auckland, 30-17.

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The Lions will next play the Blues on the 7th June and the Highlanders on the 10th.

British and Irish Lions squad to face New Zealand Provincial Barbarians:
Hogg; Watson, Joseph, Te’o, Seymour; Sexton, Laidlaw; Marler, Best, Sinckler; Jones, Henderson; Moriarty, Warburton, Faletau.

Replacements: George, Vunipola, Furlong, Kruis, Tipuric, Webb, Farrell, Payne.

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