by The convincing victory of the Lions via Auunz XV offered a platform for Andy Farrell’s test page to take shape.
Before the first test against Australia in Brisbane on Saturday, Huw Jones, Ben Earl, Owen Farrell, Hugo Keenan and Van der Merwe were among those who were impressed in Adelaide.
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The Lions have now played six, five won the defeat in a pre-tour warm-up against Argentina and their five victories against the Australian opposition.
After each of these six games, we asked our team of writers to select their 23 for the first test. The graphic shows how your thinking has changed since the previous game or not.
At Garry Ringrose’s concussion, Huw Jones comes into the back line with 13 and he looked sharply against the Auunz. I can understand why Andy Farrell could be tried to bring Sione Tuipulotu to the Inside Center to get back to her Scottish partnership, but Bunde Aki was the most directly on tour. At the only other change of my start XV, Tom Curry comes into the back row in OpenSide flankers. The Lions want to physically dominate the Wallabies, and curry’s work rate and breakdown thread will be the key. Joe McCarthy may be in the pole position to start, but tadhg beaded breakdown work is only turning for me. McCarthy can be unleashed by the bank. Mack Hansen delivered his best game on Saturday to end Marcus Smith as a back-three cover. Tommy Freeman ran in the full -back while Owen Farrell covers 10/12. It was great to see how Hugo Keenan could be seen after his recovery from his weakening illness.
The victory on Saturday influenced my thinking more than I thought. With Garry Ringrose’s conception of the brain, Huw Jones comes directly into the 13 shirt – would have been ring rose, his performance in Adelaide could still have forced Andy Farrell’s hand, and with Jones at 13 it makes sense to start Sione Tuipulotu at 12. XV. The locks remain the same, but Ben Earl comes to the seven jersey after a great performance in Adelaide. It is a heavy competitive area, but Earl’s all-round approach gives the Lions an additional carrying option in the back row alongside Jack Conan. His work in the collapse is often overlooked.
Regular visitors to this page expect another flip-flopping, so this is not disappointed. I would make sense not to give the players an ongoing comment on my advantages and disadvantages. That would produce hostility. For Brisbane I switch to the Scottish centers and shifted Bundee Aki for a late outbreak to the bench. Ringrose would have discontinued Huw Jones despite the excellence of the latter and could easily occur for the second test. Blair Kinghorn displaces Hugo Keenan as long as his knee is healthy and Mack Hansen is unlucky. Under the replacement, Marcus Smith displaces thanks to his ability to fill with full -back. Ben Earl muscles too, with Ronan Kelleher taking over from Luke Cowan-Dickie. The music ends on my back-five deception with Jac Morgan in OpenDe and Tom Curry at Blindside. I imagine that Andy Farrell will (rightly) have more regular Irish regular guests such as Tadhg Beirne and Josh van der Flier.
Right, we are back in Knie-Jerk City. Hugo Keenan delivered the big game he needed to get past Blair Kinghorn, whose fitness remains unsafe. In the other change of my starting network, Mack Hansen is James Lowe for his work rate and his spark. I keep changing my opinion in the backlog combination. Ben Earl and Jac Morgan would be the shape of the form, but an Ollie -Schach, Josh van der Flier and Jack Conan, seems to be perfectly balanced. Ben Earl comes to my bank, as does a certain Owen Farrell, which offers both experience and versatility.
While it is tempting to choose a serious skewer, given the eye -catching performance in Adelaide by Ben White and Mack Hansen, especially Ben White and Mack Hansen, the only changes that I do for the first test are injury. The absence of Garry Ringrose for brain concealing protocols leaves Huw Jones the only logical replacement due to his terrorizing terrorization of the Auunz defense with its wonderful lines of attack. He has already seamlessly cursed himself with Sione Tuipolutu on this tour and underlined the advantages of the resistance of a center combination that has proven to be so effective for Scotland. The fitness of Blair Kinghorn is too uncertain and the form of Hugo Keenan is too difficult to ignore, because there is no redesign in favor of the Irishman with a full defender. Apart from Ronan Kelleher’s supplement on the bench instead of the injured Luke Cowan-thickie, the pack remains unchanged. Tadhg Furlong may have his doubters, but it still has to be seriously questioned as a start -tighthead.
