The Test series with Australia is already won but Andy Farrell has insisted his British & Irish Lions side have a big responsibility to finish their 2025 tour unbeaten with a final Test victory over the Wallabies on Saturday.
The Lions head coach on Thursday made two changes to the team which took an unassailable 2-0 series lead with last Saturday’s dramatic 29-26 victory in front of 90,307 supporters at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.
There remain nine Irish starters with James Ryan promoted from last weekend’s replacements into the second row as England’s Ollie Chessum drops to the bench while Scotland’s Blair Kinghorn comes into the starting line-up on the left wing at James Lowe’s expense.
With the series in the bag, there might have been a temptation to rotate the Test team further but the Lions boss insisted a 3-0 clean sweep to leave Australia with nine wins from nine remained the primary target at what will be an 82,000 sell-out at Accor Stadium, the venue which staged the 2000 Olympics.
“It would mean the world to us,” Farrell said. “It’s something that we promised ourselves that we were going to chase after and try our best to represent the group as best as we possibly can do.
“Obviously, what goes along with that is representing the jersey and the brand of the British and Irish Lions, so we have a big responsibility this week.”
Farrell had given his players last Sunday and Monday off to celebrate their victory at the MCG and he believes he has been rewarded by the attitude of the squad when they returned to the training field the following day.
“It’s been great. It’s nice coming off the back of a victory like the one at the MCG.
“Having said that, it’s been a great week as far as recovering, reflecting etc, but when we came back into work on Tuesday afternoon, the process has been exactly the same and we’ve put ourselves in a position now that we’re fortunate enough to go into the third Test, and there’s a lot to play for.”
Both Ryan and Kinghorn had made big impacts off the bench in last Saturday’s series-clinching victory over the Wallabies and each played an important part in the final attacking sequence that led to Hugo Keenan’s try which secured the Lions’ come-from-behind victory, having trailed 23-5 after just 30 minutes.
Ryan becomes captain Maro Itoje’s third partner of the series in the second row, with Joe McCarthy having failed to recover from the foot injury he sustained in the series opener two weeks ago in Brisbane, and Chessum having started the second Test.
“We think that James thoroughly deserves his start,” Farrell said of Ryan.
“I think he’s grown through this tour. His physicality when he has come off the bench, when he has put the jersey on over the last three or four weeks has been there for all to see, so we think he’s the right person to start the Test.”
The other change sees Scotland’s Kinghorn replace James Lowe on the left wing as the Lions seek to win the aerial battle on what is forecast to be a rainy night in Syndey.
“We thought that Blair is obviously a great athlete but the unpredictability of his game makes him very dangerous,” the head coach said.
“The conditions that we’re expecting as far as the aerial game is concerned will be at its premium, so I think this game suits him.” Otherwise, the Lions are unchanged with tighthead prop Tadhg Furlong set to make his ninth consecutive Lions Test start in an all-Irish front row alongside Andrew Porter and Dan Sheehan.
Farrell acknowledged the 32-year-old’s season with Leinster and Ireland which was disrupted by calf issues that many observers believed would make it difficult for Furlong to justify his Lions selection.
On Saturday the three-time tourists will draw level with Wales and Lions captain Alun Wyn Jones (2013-21) and England’s Dickie Jeeps (1955-59) in a tie for fifth pace on the Lions’ most successive Test starts list, a roll of honour led by Willie John McBride on 15 across five tours from 1966 to 1974.
“It’s amazing, and it’s been well documented how much he loves playing for the Lions.
“Over the last year or 18 months, the continuity of his game and fitness… it just always happens that when this comes around, how much it means to him to get himself in the right frame of mind to be able to do what he’s done.
“It isn’t just the performances that has been through the roof. It’s also his manner on a Lions tour as well. I’ve never seen him in such good spirits, so he’s ready to go again.”
The Lions bench, which made such a vital contribution to the victory at the MCG, has been switched from a 5-3 split between forwards and backs deployed by Farrell in the first two Tests to a 6-2, with Ben Earl restored as a third back-rower alongside Jac Morgan and Chessum, who can cover lock and blindside.
“We think that’s what’s best for our group and the game that lies ahead for how we want to play it, and how we want to combat Australia’s game as well.” Schmidt has made four changes to the Wallabies starting side.
Racing 92-bound tighthead prop Taniela Tupou comes in for his first Test appearance of the year having faced the Lions nine days ago for the First Nations & Pasifika XV. Tupou replaces the injured Allan Alaalatoa.
Rob Valetini has been rested to protect him ahead of next month’s Rugby Championship campaign after his explosive 40-minute comeback from injury in last Saturday’s second Test. Valetini is replaced at blindside flanker Tom Hooper alongside fellow back-rowers Fraser McReight and captain Harry Wilson.
There is a return at scrum-half for Nic White to start in his 73rd and final Wallabies Test having announced his retirement from Test rugby earlier on Thursday. White replaces Jake Gordon.
The final change sees Dylan Pietsch replace the injured Harry Potter on the left wing.
“The squad was certainly deflated after the gut-wrenching end to last week’s Test in Melbourne,” Schmidt said, “but they have started to gather momentum in the back half of the week and will be ready to go again on Saturday.”
T Wright; M Jorgensen, J-A Suaalii, L Ikitau, D Pietsch; T Lynagh, N White; J Slipper, D Porecki, T Tupou; N Frost, W Skelton; T Hooper, F McReight, H Wilson – captain.
B Pollard, A Bell, Z Nonggorr, J Williams, L Gleeson, T McDermott, B Donaldson, A Kellaway.
H Keenan (Leinster/Ireland); T Freeman (Northampton Saints/England), H Jones (Glasgow Warriors/Scotland), B Aki (Connacht/Ireland), B Kinghorn (Toulouse/Scotland); F Russell (Bath/Scotland), J Gibson-Park (Leinster/Ireland), A Porter (Leinster/Ireland), D Sheehan (Leinster/Ireland), T Furlong (Leinster/Ireland); M Itoje (Saracens/England) – captain. J Ryan (Leinster/Ireland); T Beirne (Munster/Ireland), T Curry (Sale Sharks/England), J Conan (Leinster/Ireland).
R Kelleher (Leinster/Ireland), E Genge (Bristol Bears/England), W Stuart (Bath/England), O Chessum (Leicester Tigers/England), J Morgan (Ospreys/Wales), B Earl (Saracens/England), A Mitchell (Northampton Saints/England), O Farrell (Saracens/England).
