O’Mahony to captain Lions against Maori All Blacks

Ireland flanker Peter O’Mahony will captain the British and Irish Lions against the Maori All Blacks at Rotorua International Stadium on Saturday.
         
The Munster skipper follows Sam Warburton, Ken Owens and Alun Wyn Jones in leading the 2017 Lions in what has been billed the ‘Fourth Test’.

Lions head coach Warren Gatland said: “At this stage of the Tour it is important to build on the foundations that have been laid in the last few weeks.

“We were obviously disappointed with the loss against the Highlanders and realise that we need to improve in several areas, including our discipline, but we feel that overall we are building well towards the Test matches.

“Every game is a big challenge, which is what we wanted, and this is an experienced Lions team with eight of the starting 15 involved in the last Test in Australia in 2013.”

Gatland added: “Peter is a proven captain with Munster who never takes a backward step and we believe that those leadership qualities will serve us well on Saturday against a quality and determined Maori All Blacks team.”

British and Irish Lions: 15 Leigh Halfpenny, 14 Anthony Watson, 13 Jonathan Davies, 12 Ben Te’o, 11 George North, 10 Johnny Sexton, 9 Conor Murray, 8 Taulupe Faletau, 7 Sean O’Brien, 6 Peter O’Mahony (c), 5 George Kruis, 4 Maro Itoje, 3 Tadhg Furlong), 2 Jamie George, 1 Mako Vunipola
Replacements: 16 Ken Owens, 17 Jack McGrath, 18 Kyle Sinckler, 19 Iain Henderson), 20 Sam Warburton, 21 Greig Laidlaw, 22 Dan Biggar, 23 Elliot Daly

Date: Saturday, June 17
Venue: International Stadium, Rotorua 
Kick-Off: 19:35 local (07:35 GMT)
Referee: Jaco Peyper (South Africa)
Assistant Referees: Jérôme Garcès (France), Romain Poite (France)
TMO: Ian Smith (Australia)