British and Irish Lions: Leigh Halfpenny (Wales), Alex Cuthbert (Wales), Brian O’Driscoll (Ireland), Jonathan Davies (Wales), George North (Wales), Jonathan Sexton (Ireland), Mike Phillips (Wales); Jamie Heaslip (Ireland), Sam Warburton (captain) (Wales), Tom Croft (England), Paul O’Connell (Ireland), Alun-Wyn Jones (Wales), Adam Jones (Wales), Tom Youngs (England), Alex Corbisiero (England).
Reserves: Richard Hibbard (Wales). Mako Vunipola (Wales), Dan Cole (England), Geoff Parling (England), Dan Lydiate (Wales), Ben Youngs (England), Owen Farrell (England), Sean Maitland (Scotland).
Sam Warburton says he is ‘absolutely delighted’ after being chosen to lead The British & Irish Lions in Saturday’s first Test match against the Qantas Wallabies.
Warburton will lead The Lions out at the Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane in what will be his first Test appearance in the famous red jersey.
The Wales and Cardiff Blues star starts on the openside flank for Britain and Ireland’s elite in a side that includes seven other Test debutants as The Lions look for a repeat of their famous first Test win in Queensland 12 years ago.
“It’s happy days, it’s awesome. It’s exactly what you want to achieve when you’re a young boy,” said Warburton,” who insists the whole camp are united behind the goal of achieving a first series success since 1997.
“All the players were very excited with the announcement and the boys who aren’t involved have been very supportive. They know there’s every chance they could get back into the Test team. It’s the first one of three, so there’s a long way to go and players have still got every chance of being involved.
“Personally, I’m absolutely delighted. It’s where you want to be. Even though they’ve announced the team, I still feel pretty relaxed at this stage. I won’t feel the nerves until matchday in any game I play so I’m just enjoying it at the moment.”
Although he was named tour captain at the end of April, Warburton faced plenty of speculation surrounding his Test place after a knee injury prevented him from featuring in the first two games of the 125th anniversary adventure.
The 24-year-old sat out the wins over the Barbarians and the Force before making his Lions bow when the side were last in Brisbane against the Reds in game three.
But Warburton insists he never paid any attention to the suggestion that he may be overlooked for the No7 shirt in favour of Justin Tipuric or Sean O’Brien as he chose instead to focus solely on his day-to-day role with the squad
“I can be perfectly honest and say I’ve not looked at any of the press or anything outside of the Lions tour,” added Warburton.
“I think everybody’s been the same. We’ve come into camp and the focus has been very much on ourselves and we’ve been concentrating on what we’ve got to do.
“I’ve just tried to do what I’m in control of, and everything else is out of my hands. I’ve tried my best in the last two games I’ve played and I’m delighted I got the nod.”
