Picking The British & Irish Lions Team For Their Tour Opener Against Japan On Saturday
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Lions.
The British and Irish Lions’ 2021 tour officially gets underway this weekend with a home fixture against Japan at Murrayfield before the full squad assembles and jets out to South Africa.
Gatland and his coaching ticket have 28 players to choose from for the game in Scotland this week with the remaining players in the squad joining up after the weekend.
Ireland and Leinster hooker Ronan Kelleher has remained with the Lions, despite not being officially added to the touring party, and may be given a chance this weekend to impress.
Here’s the team we reckon Gatland should go with this weekend. We tried to go with a blend of experience, guys that need minutes, and first-time Lions that would benefit from a start early on to get the monkey off their back so to speak.
Potential Lions XV vs Scotland
15. Liam Williams
14. Josh Adams
13. Robbie Henshaw
12. Bundee Aki
11. Duhan van der Merwe
10. Dan Biggar
9. Conor Murray
1. Wyn Jones
2. Ken Owens
3. Tadhg Furlong
4. Iain Henderson
5. Alun Wyn Jones (c)
6. Tadhg Beirne
7. Hamish Watson
8. Taulupe Faletau
![](https://rugbylad.ie/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/line.jpg)