Lions in SA
Lions pick team for Durban
2009-06-18 13:53
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B&I Lions captain Paul O'Connell. (Gallo Images)
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Durban - David Wallace edged Martyn Williams for a back row spot in the British and Irish Lions starting line-up for Saturday's first Test against world champions South Africa while prop Andrew Sheridan didn't even get a spot on the bench.
Wallace helped Ireland win the Six Nations title and has played consistently on tour while Wales flanker Williams has only recently returned from a shoulder injury.
Sheridan, singled out as a key threat by one of the provincial South African teams the Lions beat, won't be involved. He has lost out to Gethin Jenkins who starts as loosehead prop in the line-up announced on Thursday and Adam Jones is on the bench.
The Lions have won all six of their warm-up games with head coach Ian McGeechan repeatedly making entire line-up changes to try out various combinations before coming up with the 15 he hopes will give his side a winning start in the three-Test series.
"There will be some huge disappointments because you can't hide that. They're all big international players and they all wanted a test place," said McGeechan, who is on his seventh Lions tour. "How they have responded since is very positive."
Lions captain Paul O'Connell said the players had to produce their best performance against the Springboks but, if they did, they would win the game.
"We are going to have to be a little more accurate than we have been," the Ireland lock forward said. "We've been very good at training and we've got to bring that out onto the pitch. It's happened at times throughout the tour but probably not enough and hopefully we can do that on Saturday.
"We've got fabulous players in every position, great pace in the back row and in the back line and a very fit front five, a very good scrummaging front five. We need things to go our way a little bit. If we put together an 80 minute performance on Saturday there's no doubt that we can win."
The two teams also face each other at Pretoria on June 27 and Johannesburg on July 4.
McGeechan said that prop Euan Murray had been ruled out of the rest of the tour with an ankle injury he picked up in Tuesday's bruising victory over the Southern Kings and the Lions may have to look at a short-term replacement. Flyhalf James Hook is back in training after sustaining a neck and head injury after a high tackle in that match.
Lions:
Lee Byrne (WAL), Tommy Bowe (IRL), Brian O'Driscoll (IRL), Jamie Roberts (WAL), Ugo Monye (ENG), Stephen Jones (WAL), Mike Phillips (WAL), Jamie Heaslip (IRL), David Wallace (IRL), Tom Croft (ENG), Paul O'Connell (IRL, captain), Alun-Wyn Jones (WAL), Phil Vickery (ENG), Lee Mears (ENG), Gethin Jenkins (WAL)
Replacements: Matthew Rees (WAL), Adam Jones (WAL), Donncha O'Callaghan (IRL), Martyn Williams (WAL), Harry Ellis (ENG), Ronan O'Gara (IRL), Rob Kearney (IRL)