Lions hype mid-field but it's an another 'awesome athlete' who's caught eye

The British & Irish Lions are relishing the chance to unleash their new-look centre pairing of Bundee Aki and Sione Tuipulotu in front of a sold-out Aviva Stadium on Friday.

Head coach Andy Farrell named his match-day 23 on Wednesday for the 1888 Cup clash with Argentina.

The midfield pairing has been one of the main talking points, with Wallabies head coach Joe Schmidt cheekily describing them as “a Southern Hemisphere centre partnership that will be pretty formidable”.

British & Irish Lions in collaboration with the RugbyPass App

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British & Irish Lions in collaboration with the RugbyPass App

World Rugby and the British & Irish Lions announce a groundbreaking strategic collaboration that will see the RugbyPass App become the designated home of the British & Irish Lions Tour to Australia in 2025.

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Attack coach Richard Wigglesworth said the coaching ticket are excited ahead of the Lions’ first hit-out of the summer.

“We’ve obviously got power and pace, and no little skill in between. Excited to see the centre partnership for the first time. They can both play through or around teams.

“They should create some space for those boys out wide, who look pretty exciting, don’t they?

“For us, we want to see how we work off the ball, how we connect to each other. Outside of that – as I said, first game together – we want to play the space and play fast.

“Every Test match is different, every game is different. If we work hard with the players we’ve got, we’ll create some stuff.”

Wigglesworth is also looking forward to the return of Duhan van der Merwe, the giant South African-born Scot, who hasn’t played since the Guinness Six Nations.

“I’m sure he’ll feel it at some points in the game as the game goes on. He’s been training a while now and he looks incredibly sharp. An awesome athlete up close. We should expect to get some ball into space and him to do some pretty special things with it.”

Wigglesworth gave an optimistic update on the walking wounded, including Leinster scrum-half Jamison Gibson-Park, who was pulled from their win over the Bulls on the day of the URC final. Ireland prop Tadhg Furlong has been named on the bench for the Aviva Stadium clash as he looks to prove his fitness after a calf strain.

He has struggled with calf and hamstring issues all season, missing the 2024 autumn series and playing just once in the Six Nations.

“They’re all not far away,” said Wigglesworth. “Jamison was running today, other guys are very close to running around with us all next week.”