Conor Murray To Lead Lions Against South Africa 'A'

Warren Gatland has named his Lions team to play South Africa ‘A’ at Cape Town Stadium on Wednesday 14 July (kick off 7pm BST). Tour captain Conor Murray (Munster, Ireland) is named skipper of a starting XV which has 12 changes to the team that defeated Cell C Sharks 31-71 at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday evening, with Munster team-mate Tadhg Beirne among the replacements. Munster's Damian de Allende starts for a star-studded South Africa 'A' selection that includes 18 World Cup winners (see full team at the bottom of the page). Anthony Watson (Bath Rugby, England), Chris Harris (Gloucester Rugby, Scotland) and Dan Biggar (Northampton Saints, Wales) are the only Lions players retained from the second Sharks victory. Watson shifts from right wing to fullback with Harris moving to 13 where he is joined in midfield by Bundee Aki (Connacht Rugby, Ireland). Biggar will again start at fly-half. The game against South Africa ‘A’ will be shown live and exclusively on Sky Sports and is the fourth match in an eight-game Series culminating in the three Tests against World Champions, the Springboks. “We’re pleased to have arrived in Cape Town as we near the halfway stage of the Series,” said Gatland. “Wednesday’s game against South Africa ‘A’ will be our toughest encounter since we arrived here and we’re looking forward to it. We expect them to be physical in the contact area and look to test us at scrum time. “I think we’ve benefitted from playing at altitude in the first three games. While the boys have felt it in their lungs, they’ll be all the better for it now we’re at sea level. “As we move towards the business end of the Tour, it’s pleasing to see so many players putting in some stand-out performances. As coaches we want the players to make Test selection as hard as possible and that’s we’re seeing.”

Team Line-Ups

British & Irish Lions 15 Anthony Watson (Bath Rugby, England) #816 14 Louis Rees-Zammit (Gloucester Rugby, Wales) #846 13 Chris Harris (Gloucester Rugby, Scotland) #844 12 Bundee Aki (Connacht Rugby, Ireland) #837 11 Josh Adams (Cardiff Rugby, Wales) #836 10 Dan Biggar (Northampton Saints, Wales) #821 9 Conor Murray – (C) (Munster Rugby, Ireland) #790 1 Wyn Jones (Scarlets, Wales) #842 2 Ken Owens (Scarlets, Wales) #829 3 Kyle Sinckler (Bristol Bears, England) #814 4 Maro Itoje (Saracens, England) #825 5 Iain Henderson (Ulster Rugby, Ireland) #808 6 Josh Navidi (Cardiff Rugby, Wales) #854 7 Tom Curry (Sale Sharks, England) #853 8 Taulupe Faletau (Bath Rugby, Wales) #779 Replacements: 16 Luke Cowan-Dickie (Exeter Chiefs, England) #851 17 Mako Vunipola (Saracens, England) #787 18 Zander Fagerson (Glasgow Warriors, Scotland) #848 19 Adam Beard (Ospreys, Wales) #852 20 Tadhg Beirne (Munster Rugby, Ireland) #838 21 Sam Simmonds (Exeter Chiefs, England) #849 22 Gareth Davies (Scarlets, Wales) #850 23 Elliot Daly (Saracens, England) #822 South Africa ‘A’ 15 Willie le Roux 14 Cheslin Kolbe 13 Lukhanyo Am (C) 12 Damian de Allende 11 Sbu Nkosi 10 Morné Steyn 9 Faf de Klerk 1 Steven Kitshoff 2 Joseph Dweba 3 Trevor Nyakane 4 Eben Etzebeth 5 Franco Mostert 6 Marco van Staden 7 Pieter-Steph du Toit 8 Jasper Wiese Replacements (from): 16 Malcolm Marx 17 Coenie Oosthuizen 18 Vincent Koch 19 Nicolaas Janse van Rensburg 20 Rynhardt Elstadt 21 Herschel Jantjies 22 Jesse Kriel 23 Damian Willemse 24 Kwagga Smith 25 Elton Jantjies