Vunipola & Daly to start for Lions against Sharks

Both Mako Vunipola and Elliot Daly will start for the British and Irish Lions on Wednesday evening when the tourists take on Cell C Sharks at Emirates Airline Park (kick off 6pm BST). 

The pair were both on the bench for the win against Sigma Lions on Saturday, and will now get the chance to start this week.

Owen Farrell, Jamie George and Maro Itoje are all rested after playing the majority of the match on Saturday, which they won 56-14.

Ireland lock, Iain Henderson, will captain the Lions for the first time, while Tour Captain, Conor Murray, is named amongst the replacements. 

The game, which will be shown live and exclusively on Sky Sports, is the second of eight Tour matches in the 2021 Castle Lager Lions Series which culminates with three Tests against World Champions, the 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.  

“Wednesday night is another chance for us to have a look at a few more combinations. I’m looking forward to seeing how the back row goes; it’s an exciting mixture and one that we hope will offer something a bit different. 

“We expect another physical test against a side who are known for their power play and ambition.”

CELL C SHARKS v THE BRITISH & IRISH LIONS

Wednesday 7 July 2021 

Emirates Airline Park, Johannesburg

Kick-off: 6pm (BST) 

15 Liam Williams 

14 Anthony Watson 

13 Elliot Daly 

12 Bundee Aki

11 Duhan van der Merwe 

10 Dan Biggar

9 Gareth Davies

1 Mako Vunipola

2 Luke Cowan-Dickie

3 Zander Fagerson 

4 Iain Henderson

5 Adam Beard

6 Josh Navidi 

7 Tom Curry

8 Sam Simmonds 

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