It may not yet prove to be the Lions side for the first Test, but this sure looks the closest line-up to it yet, and by some distance.
Although he has again heavily rotated his side for Wednesday’s meeting with the ACT Brumbies (11am Irish time), Andy Farrell has evidently given the biggest pointer yet toward the composition of the side for the first Test against the Wallabies in Brisbane a week and a half later.
Even Joe Schmidt had speculated that this Lions selection would be the clearest indication yet of Farrell’s thinking for the series opener. Whether or not the team that faces the Brumbies will be retained en bloc against the Wallabies remains to be seen, but this looks like being the core of the side for the opening Test.
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Putting Jamison Gibson-Park and Finn Russell together again, having done so in the 52-12 win over the Reds a week ago, is something of a signature selection given it is the likeliest halfback partnership to start against the Wallabies.
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It doesn’t necessarily follow that the rest of the team will follow suit, but strong performances against the Brumbies – the pick of the Australian Super Rugby teams, if missing eight of Schmidt’s Wallabies squad – could go some way toward nailing down Test starting places.
An apparent case in point is the Irish midfield pairing of Bundee Aki and Garry Ringrose, which has been chosen as the Lions midfield for the first time on tour. This comes four days after an impressive first outing in red for the Sione Tuipulotu-Huw Jones combination in what looks like a straight shoot-out between the two settled international pairings.
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Perhaps significantly too, Blair Kinghorn has been chosen ahead of Hugo Keenan at fullback. Although Keenan has the better body of work over the last four years, injury and illness delayed his Lions debut until a slightly off-colour performance in last Saturday’s laboured win over the Waratahs. Opportunity clearly knocks for Kinghorn who is the only player retained after starting that game on the left wing.
James Lowe’s selection in the 11 jersey against the Brumbies reinforces his status as strong favourite for that position against the Wallabies.
Up front, it also looks highly significant that last Saturday’s replacement frontrow of Ellis Genge, Dan Sheehan and Tadhg Furlong has been chosen to start, having been introduced en bloc for the final half-hour against the Waratahs. No less than those before them, the Lions head coach and scrum coach, ie Farrell and John Fogarty, like their frontrows to generate cohesion before the first Test.
The selection of this trio means that Andrew Porter is on the bench with Rónan Kelleher and Will Stuart, in what would be an impactful frontrow.
Joe McCarthy’s barnstorming display against the Force laid down a marker and made him the likeliest partner for captain Maro Itoje in the Test opener, and so this secondrow partnership has come to pass for the first time in this game.
The competitive backrow permutations could yet prove fluid, but the combination of Ollie Chessum, in his first start at blindside, and Tom Curry, in his first start at seven, either side of Jack Conan, looks interesting.
On the basis that Chessum covers lock, both Josh van der Flier and Henry Pollock are accommodated on the bench, and given the latter has played across the backrow in his three appearances on tour, it does look as if he is being groomed for a well-suited role as impact replacement.
Alex Mitchell and Marcus Smith are named on the bench, as is Mack Hansen who, no doubt to his delight, could thus play on his old stomping ground against his former team in his home city. Never has the Return of the Mack seemed so apt and while a bench split of 6-2 for the first Test cannot be ruled out, like all those named for this game, Hansen appears to have a real shot at a place in the matchday 23 for the first Test.
While missing eight of the 10 Brumbies players in Schmidt’s Wallabies squad, Stephen Larkham has been able to call upon backrower Tom Hooper and exciting winger Corey Toole, who scored 11 tries in 16 games in their run to the Super Rugby Pacific semi-finals.
Hooper has been released despite playing the last 12 minutes of the Wallabies’ 21-18 win over Fiji in what will be the 24-year-old’s last game for the Brumbies before joining Exeter. As Larkham has picked Hooper’s younger brother Lachie (21) for his debut off the bench, the Hoopers cold thus play together in Brumbies shirts for the first time.
As well as the older Hooper and Toole, prop Lington Ieli, flanker Rory Scott, talented scrumhalf/captain Ryan Lonergan and centre David Feliuai all start after recently being involved in the Wallabies camp in both Sydney and Newcastle, before returning to the Brumbies. Lock Cadeyrn Neville starts against the Lions for the second time, having played against them for the Melbourne Rebels during the 2013 tour.
The one-time Connacht winger Ben O’Donnell will play his first and last game for the Brumbies as a consequence of suffering a torn hamstring last February and ahead of his move to French D2 side Aurillac. Replacement outhalf Jack Debreczeni should also feature for the last time in a Brumbies shirt.
LIONS: Blair Kinghorn (Scotland); Tommy Freeman (England), Garry Ringrose (Ireland), Bundee Aki (Ireland), James Lowe (Ireland); Finn Russell (Scotland), Jamison Gibson-Park (Ireland); Ellis Genge (England), Dan Sheehan (Ireland), Tadhg Furlong (Ireland); Maro Itoje (England, capt), Joe McCarthy (Ireland); Ollie Chessum (England), Tom Curry (England), Jack Conan (Ireland).
Replacements: Rónan Kelleher (Ireland), Andrew Porter (Ireland), Will Stuart (England), Josh van der Flier (Ireland), Henry Pollock (England), Alex Mitchell (England), Marcus Smith (England), Mack Hansen (Ireland).
ACT BRUMBIES: Andy Muirhead; Ben O’Donnell, Ollie Sapsford, David Feliuai, Corey Toole; Declan Meredith, Ryan Lonergan (capt); Lington Ieli, Lachlan Lonergan, Rhys van Nek; Lachie Shaw, Cadeyrn Neville; Tom Hooper, Rory Scott, Tuaina Taii Tualima.
Replacements: Liam Bowron, Cameron Orr, Feao Fotuaika, Lachie Hooper, Luke Reimer, Harrison Goddard, Jack Debreczeni, Hudson Creighton.
