Nine Ireland players to start for British and Irish Lions against Wallabies on Saturday

ANDY Farrell has named the British and Irish Lions team that will take the field against Australia in the third and final Test of the Qatar Airways Lions Men’s Series at the Accor Stadium in Sydney on Saturday, 11am Irish time.

Munster Rugby captain Tadhg Beirne will start in a third consecutive Test when lining out at blindside flanker in Saturday's Game in Sydney.

England’s Maro Itoje will lead out the side and is partnered in the second row by Leinster and Ireland’s James Ryan.

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In the front row, the Leinster and Ireland trio of Andrew Porter, Dan Sheehan and Tadhg Furlong is retained with Furlong set to start his ninth consecutive Test match for the Lions.

The backrow comprises of England’s Tom Curry at openside, Ireland’s Jack Conan at No.8 and Munster and Ireland's Tadhg Beirne.

Ireland’s Jamison Gibson-Park and Scotland’s Finn Russell are retained as the half-back pairing at scrum-half and flyhalf respectively.

Ireland’s Bundee Aki is again partnered with Scotland’s Huw Jones in midfield.

Scotland’s Blair Kinghorn is introduced into the back three alongside England’s Tommy Freeman and Ireland’s Hugo Keenan.

Lions Head Coach Andy Farrell, said: “We have put ourselves in a great position to finish this Tour with our best performance to date and create our own piece of history.

Last weekend’s Test match in Melbourne was an incredible spectacle and illustrated how special Lions Tours are and what it means to both the players and the supporters.

We are expecting another epic battle this weekend against a Wallaby side that showed their quality last week.”

The game kicks off at 11.00am BST and will be broadcast live on SKY in Ireland and the UK.

The final Test match of the 2013 Tour saw the Lions secure the Series with a 41-16 victory at Stadium Australia in Sydney.

The British & Irish Lions v Wallabies

Accor Stadium, Sydney, Saturday, August, 2, KO: 11:00 BST

15. Hugo Keenan (Leinster Rugby/Ireland) #881
14. Tommy Freeman (Northampton Saints/England) #858
13. Huw Jones (Glasgow Warriors/Scotland) #878
12. Bundee Aki (Connacht Rugby/Ireland) #837
11. Blair Kinghorn (Toulouse/Scotland) #882
10. Finn Russell (Bath Rugby/Scotland) #835
9. Jamison Gibson-Park (Leinster Rugby/Ireland) #879

1. Andrew Porter (Leinster Rugby/Ireland) #876
2. Dan Sheehan (Leinster Rugby/Ireland) #873
3. Tadhg Furlong (Leinster Rugby/Ireland) #818
4. Maro Itoje (Saracens/England) (C) #825
5. James Ryan (Leinster Rugby/Ireland) #880
6. Tadhg Beirne (Munster Rugby/Ireland) #838
7. Tom Curry (Sale Sharks/England) #853
8. Jack Conan (Leinster Rugby/Ireland) #839

Replacements:
16. Ronan Kelleher (Leinster Rugby/Ireland) #864
17. Ellis Genge (Bristol Bears/England) #859
18. Will Stuart (Bath Rugby/England) #877
19. Ollie Chessum (Leicester Tigers/England) #875
20. Jac Morgan (Ospreys/Wales) #861
21. Ben Earl (Saracens/England) #857
22. Alex Mitchell (Northampton Saints/England) #860
23. Owen Farrell (Saracens/England) #780

Lions Trivia:

TADHG Furlong equals Wales’ Alun Wyn Jones in starting nine consecutive Lions Test matches. Maro Itoje will also have played in the last nine Test matches having come off the bench in the first Test against New Zealand in 2017.

Most Successive Lions Test Starts
15 Willie John McBride (1966-74)
12 Graham Price (1977-83)
10 Tony O’Reilly (1955-59)
10 RH Williams (1955-59)
9 Dickie Jeeps (1055-59)
9 Alun Wyn Jones (2013-2021)
9* Tadhg Furlong (2017-2025)
8* Maro Itoje (2017-2025)