Lions debuts for Beard, Navidi and Curry

Tom Curry of England and the Welsh duo of Josh Navidi and Adam Beard will make their British & Irish Lions debuts on Wednesday evening when the tourists take on Cell C Sharks at Emirates Airline Park.

Ireland lock Iain Henderson (pictured above) will captain the Lions for the first time, while Tour Captain Conor Murray, also of Ireland, is named amongst the replacements.

The game is the second of eight Tour matches in the 2021 Castle Lager Lions Series, which culminates with three Tests against the World Champion 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.

“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 Lions opened their 2021 Castle Lager Lions Series with an eight-try victory over Sigma Lions last Saturday.

British & Irish Lions: 15 Liam Williams, 14 Anthony Watson, 13 Elliot Daly, 12 Bundee Aki, 11 Duhan van der Merwe, 10 Dan Biggar, 9 Gareth Davies, 8 Sam Simmonds, 7 Tom Curry, 6 Josh Navidi, 5 Ian Henderson (captain), 4 Adam Beard, 3 Zander Fagerson, 2 Luke Cowan-Dickie, 1 Mako Vunipola. Replacements: 16 Ken Owens, 17 Rory Sutherland, 18 Tadhg Furlong, 19 Tadhg Beirne, 20 Jack Conan, 21 Conor Murray, 22 Stuart Hogg, 23 Chris Harris.

British & Irish Lions Castle Lager Lions Series Cell C Sharks Emirates Airline Park

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