British and Irish Lions: Owen Farrell on bench as Henry Pollock starts vs AUNZ XV

Owen Farrell has been included among the replacements with Henry Pollock restored to the starting XV for the British and Irish Lions’ game with an Australia and New Zealand Invitational XV in Adelaide on Saturday.

Farrell, who was drafted into the squad by his father and head coach Andy after Elliot Daly's arm injury against Queensland Reds, will start on the bench at the Adelaide Oval.

Farrell has not played competitive rugby for nine weeks after suffering a concussion but back in May, and has not played a Test match since securing bronze for England against Argentina at the 2023 Rugby World Cup.

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The 33-year-old could make his 19th Lions appearance on his fourth Lions tour from the bench, with Ireland's Tadhg Beirne captaining the side for the second time in Australia as Maro Itoje is rested.

Beirne will line up alongside James Ryan in the second row behind Pierre Schoeman, Luke Cowan-Dickie and Will Stuart with Pollock, Jac Morgan and Ben Earl making up the back row.

Ben White and Fin Smith will link up at half-back with Scotland centres Sione Tuipulotu and Huw Jones in midfield and Hugo Keenan, Mack Hansen and Duhan van der Merwe forming the back three.

England forward Pollock is back in the starting line-up after withdrawing from Saturday's 21-10 victory over the Waratahs as a precaution with a tight calf.

The 20-year-old and his team-mates have one final opportunity to force his way into Farrell's thinking one week out from the start of the Test series against the Wallabies on July 19, live on Sky Sports.

"He's the same as everyone else who has had to get up to speed pretty quickly," head coach Farrell said of his son. "Not everyone had to at the start, and a few have come in since.

"The art of this stage of the tour is mentally being as switched on as you possibly can, for all, not just the lads who are new to the group.

"There is not that much training you can do, the learnings are from the videos of the games and that's the nature of where we are at."

Farrell's fingers crossed as Kinghorn goes for scan

Scotland full-back Blair Kinghorn suffered a knee injury during Wednesday's 36-24 win over the ACT Brumbies in Canberra and while the Lions head coach is hopeful the damage is not significant, he was awaiting the outcome of a scan as he conducted his press conference on Thursday morning.

Asked how Kinghorn was, Farrell said: "Blair is okay, he's not too bad. He's actually gone for a scan as we speak now, so we're waiting as regards to the news on that, but the same as he always is.

"Like I said yesterday, he's in good spirits, so we'll wait and see what the outcome is of that.

"I don't think it's as bad as what could have been. It was something innocuous really, just a rugby accident that was unfortunate, so fingers crossed when we get back to the hotel that we get some good news."

Lions team to face AUNZ Invitational XV

Starting XV: 15 Hugo Keenan, 14 Mack Hansen, 13 Huw Jones, 12 Sione Tuipulotu, 11 Duhan van der Merwe, 10 Fin Smith, 9 Ben White; 1 Pierre Schoeman, 2 Luke Cowan-Dickie, 3 Will Stuart, 4 James Ryan, 5 Tadhg Beirne (c), 6 Henry Pollock, 7 Jac Morgan, 8 Ben Earl.

Replacements: 16 Ronan Kelleher, 17 Andrew Porter, 18 Finlay Bealham, 19 Scott Cummings, 20 Josh van der Flier, 21 Alex Mitchell, 22 Marcus Smith, 23 Owen Farrell.

Eight All Blacks, six Wallabies to face Lions

Eight All Blacks and six Wallabies feature in the Australia-New Zealand Invitational XV to face the British & Irish Lions in Adelaide.

All Blacks Ngani Laumape and David Havili form the centre partnership with 63-cap Wallabies winger Marika Koroibete on the wing alongside AJ Lam, the only uncapped player in the starting line-up.

Australia-New Zealand Invitational XV: 15 Shaun Stevenson, 14 AJ Lam, 13 Ngani Laumape, 12 David Havili, 11 Marika Koroibete, 10 Tane Edmed, 9 Folau Fakatava; 1 Aidan Ross, 2 Brandon Paenga-Amosa, 3 Jeffery Toomaga-Allen, 4 Angus Blyth, 5 Lukhan Salakaia-Loto (c), 6 Shannon Frizell, 7 Pete Samu, 8 Hoskins Sotutu.

Replacements: 16 Kurt Eklund, 17 Joshua Fusitu'a, 18 George Dyer, 19 Matt Philip, 20 Joe Brial, 21 Kalani Thomas, 22 Harry McLaughlin-Phillips, 23 Jock Campbell.

British and Irish Lions tour of Australia on Sky Sports

Sky Sports will exclusively show the 2025 British and Irish Lions tour of Australia, with all three Tests against the Wallabies and six warm-up matches to be shown exclusively live.

(c) Sky Sports 2025: British and Irish Lions: Owen Farrell on bench as Henry Pollock starts vs AUNZ XV