South African-born Pierre Schoeman gets his second start on tour for the British & Irish Lions as they look to further sharpen themselves ahead of the first Wallabies Test.
After runaway wins over the Force and the Reds, they face arguably their toughest test so far against the Waratahs in Sydney.
Schoeman forms a front row alongside England’s Luke Cowan-Dickie and Ireland’s Finlay Bealham, and he’ll be responsible to keep Wallabies prop Taniela Tupou in check.
Munster and Ireland’s Tadhg Beirne will captain the side as Maro Itoje gets the evening off after leading the tourists to victory against the Reds, are there are debuts for Ireland’s Hugo Keenan and Scotland’s Blair Kinghorn, who form a tasty back three with Ireland’s Mack Hansen.
It’s been a whirlwind last 12 hours for the Lions, with three-time Lion Elliot Daly ruled out of the tour with a broken arm and spectacularly being replaced by Owen Farrell, who’s been out of international rugby for two years.
LIONS – 15 Hugo Keenan, 14 Mack Hansen, 13 Huw Jones, 12 Sione Tuipulotu, 11 Blair Kinghorn, 10 Fin Smith, 9 Alex Mitchell, 8 Ben Earl, 7 Josh van der Flier, 6 Henry Pollock, 5 James Ryan, 4 Tadhg Beirne (c), 3 Finlay Bealham, 2 Luke Cowan-Dickie, 1 Pierre Schoeman
Bench: 16 Dan Sheehan, 17 Ellis Genge, 18 Tadhg Furlong, 19 Joe McCarthy, 20 Scott Cummings, 21 Jac Morgan, 22 Ben White, 23 Marcus Smith
Photo: Charles McQuillan/Getty Images
Our 23 to take on the British & Irish Lions this Saturday Night 🦁#wearetahs pic.twitter.com/q1J9hAA1Uq
— NSW Waratahs (@NSWWaratahs) July 3, 2025
