Ireland captain Brian O’Driscoll has been named as skipper of the British and Irish Lions for the second match of their South African tour when they face the Golden Lions at Ellis Park tomorrow.
The starting team contains five players who’ll be wearing the famous red jersey for the first time, while a further six men on the replacements bench have yet to represent the Lions.
Only three players who started against the Royal XV in Rustenburg on Saturday — a match won 37-25 by the tourists — get another start against the provincial team from Johannesburg.
They are winger Tommy Bowe, inside center Jamie Roberts and David Wallace, who moves from No.8 to the flank.
Six of the bench-sitters on Saturday, however, have been elevated to the starting XV.
MIX IT UP
“We were always going to mix it up in the first three matches so that everyone gets a full outing,” said Lions coach Ian McGeechan yesterday when the team was announced.
“The first three matches of this tour were set aside so that we could have a look at everyone,” he said.
McGeechan said the team had a “very solid core” with men such as O’Driscoll, Stephen Jones, Wallace, Phil Vickery and Gethin Jenkins all filling key roles in the side.
“They are all very experienced internationals and previous Lions tourists,” McGeechan said.
“David Wallace now has the opportunity to play at openside flanker following his selection at No 8 against the Royal XV,” he said.
“Stephen Jones who was a replacement in the last match, but did not get a run, links up with his Welsh teammate and scrumhalf Mike Phillips giving the team an experienced halfback combination,” McGeechan said.
WORK
He added that the team had done a lot work on several key areas since Saturday’s match in Rustenburg.
“We’re just one game into the tour, but have to keep developing our game. Hopefully we’ll take a few more steps in the right direction on Wednesday,” McGeechan said.
Welsh center Leigh Halfpenny has recovered from a thigh injury and will join the squad in South Africa today.
Meanwhile, the Golden Lions team, also named yesterday, shows no major changes to the side that featured during this year’s Super 14 competition.
The most significant absentee is Springbok center Jaque Fourie, who was expected to be named in the Springbok squad yesterday evening.
The Golden Lions have a new coach in Hans Coetzee, who’ll be in charge for the first time tomorrow, following the axing last week of Eugene Eloff.
Bayer 04 Leverkusen go into today’s match at TSG 1899 Hoffenheim stung from their first league defeat in 16 months. Leverkusen were beaten 3-2 at home by RB Leipzig before the international break, the first loss since May last year for the reigning league and cup champions. While any defeat, particularly against a likely title rival, would have disappointed coach Xabi Alonso, the way in which it happened would be most concerning. Just as they did in the Supercup against VfB Stuttgart and in the league opener to Borussia Moenchengladbach, Leverkusen scored first, but were pegged back. However, while Leverkusen rallied late to
Taiwanese badminton superstar Lee Yang broke down in tears after publicly retiring from the sport on Sunday. The two-time Olympic gold medalist held a retirement ceremony at the Taipei Arena after the final matches of the Taipei Open. Accompanied by friends, family and former badminton partners, Lee burst into tears while watching a video celebrating key moments in his professional sporting career that also featured messages from international players such as Malaysia’s Teo Ee Yi, Hong Kong’s Tang Chun-man, and Indonesia’s Mohammad Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan. “I hope that in the future when the world thinks about me, they will
If all goes well when the biggest marathon field ever gathered in Australia races 42km through the streets of Sydney on Sunday, World Marathon Majors (WMM) will soon add a seventh race to the elite series. The Sydney Marathon is to become the first race since Tokyo in 2013 to join long-established majors in New York, London, Boston, Berlin and Chicago if it passes the WMM assessment criteria for the second straight year. “We’re really excited for Sunday to arrive,” race director Wayne Larden told a news conference in Sydney yesterday. “We’re prepared, we’re ready. All of our plans look good on
When details from a scientific experiment that could have helped clear Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva landed at the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), the leader of the organization’s reaction was unequivocal: “We have to stop that urgently,” he wrote. No mention of the test ever became public and Valieva’s defense at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) went on without it. What effect the information could have had on Valieva’s case is unclear, but without it, the skater, then 15 years old, was eventually disqualified from the 2022 Winter Olympics after testing positive for a banned heart medication that would later