Rugby
Henderson to captain B&I Lions against the Sharks─── 12:57 Mon, 05 Jul 2021
Tom Curry (Sale Sharks, England), Josh Navidi (Cardiff Rugby, Wales) and Adam Beard (Ospreys, Wales) will make their Lions debuts on Wednesday evening when the tourists take on the Sharks at Ellis Park in Johannesburg.
Ireland lock, Iain Henderson (Ulster Rugby, Ireland), will captain the Lions for the first time, while Tour Captain, Conor Murray (Munster Rugby, Ireland), is named amongst the replacements.
The game, which will be shown live and exclusively on Sky Sports, is the second of eight Tour matches in the 2021 Castle Lager Lions Series which culminates with three Tests against World Champions, the Springboks.
“It’s a quick turnaround from Saturday, but we’ll be ready to go by Wednesday night,” said Lions Head Coach Warren Gatland.
“I’m pleased we managed to come through the weekend’s game unscathed, and the boys have rested and recovered well. We feel like we’re slowly building, but, as ever, there’s still room for improvement in all facets of our game.
“Wednesday night is another chance for us to have a look at a few more combinations. I’m looking forward to seeing how the back row goes; it’s an exciting mixture and one that we hope will offer something a bit different.
“We expect another physical test against a side who are known for their power play and ambition.
“My congratulations to Tom, Josh and Adam ahead of their first starts in a Lions jersey.”
The British & Irish Lions opened their Lager Lions Series with an eight-try victory over the Sigma Lions.
Sharks - 15 Manie Libbok, 14 Werner Kok, 13 Jeremy Ward, 12 Marius Louw, 11 Thaakir Abrahams, 10 Curwin Bosch, 9 Jaden Hendrikse, 8 Phepsi Buthelezi (captain), 7 Thembelani Bholi, 6 James Venter, 5 Hyron Andrews, 4 Ruben van Heerden, 3 Khutha Mchunu, 2 Fez Mbatha, 1 Khwezi Mona.
Replacements - 16 Kerron van Vuuren, 17 Ntuthuko Mchunu, 18 Wiehahn Herbst, 19 JJ van der Mescht, 20 Reniel Hugo, 21 Dylan Richardson, 22 Grant Williams, 23 Anthony Volmink.
British & Irish Lions - 15 Liam Williams (Wales), 14 Anthony Watson (England), 13 Elliot Daly (England), 12 Bundee Aki (Ireland), 11 Duhan van der Merwe (Scotland), 10 Dan Biggar (Wales), 9 Gareth Davies (Wales), 8 Sam Simmonds (England), 7 Tom Curry (England), 6 Josh Navidi (Wales), 5 Adam Beard (Wales), 4 Iain Henderson (captain, Ireland), 3 Zander Fagerson (Scotland), 2 Luke Cowan-Dickie (England), 1 Mako Vunipola (England).
Replacements - 16 Ken Owens (Wales), 17 Rory Sutherland (Scotland), 18 Tadhg Furlong (Ireland), 19 Tadhg Beirne (Ireland), 20 Jack Conan (Ireland), 21 Conor Murray (Ireland), 22 Stuart Hogg (Scotland), 23 Chris Harris (Scotland).
