Saints wing Freeman starts as Lions take on Queensland Reds
Tommy Freeman will start for the British & Irish Lions when they take on Queensland Reds in Brisbane on Wednesday (kick-off 11am BST).
It will be the first midweek match of the tour of Australia, and Freeman is in from the off, having sat out last Saturday's 54-7 victory against Western Force in Brisbane.
Alex Mitchell was involved in that match, and he will be on the bench again against the Reds.
Fin Smith is also among the replacements, but Henry Pollock gets a rest after completing the game last weekend.
The Lions began their Australian tour with a resounding win over Western Force – in which scrum-half Mitchell scored the last of his side’s eight tries.
Head coach Andy Farrell has now opted to ring the changes for this week’s match against the Reds at Suncorp Stadium.
In the corresponding fixture in 2013, the Lions won 22-12, but they required a 100 per cent record off the tee from Owen Farrell as the hosts outscored the visitors two tries to one.
This Wednesday’s game will be broadcast live on Sky Sports in the UK and Ireland.
British & Irish Lions team to face Queensland Reds: 15 Hugo Keenan (Leinster Rugby/Ireland); 14 Tommy Freeman (Saints/England) #858, 13 Huw Jones (Glasgow Warriors/Scotland) #878, 12 Bundee Aki (Connacht Rugby/Ireland) #837, 11 Duhan van der Merwe (Edinburgh Rugby/Scotland) #841; 10 Finn Russell (Bath Rugby/Scotland) #835, 9 Jamison Gibson-Park (Leinster Rugby/Ireland); 1 Andrew Porter (Leinster Rugby/Ireland) #876, 2 Ronan Kelleher (Leinster Rugby/Ireland) #864, 3 Will Stuart (Bath Rugby/England) #877; 4 Maro Itoje (Saracens/England) (C) #825, 5 Ollie Chessum (Leicester Tigers/England) #875; 6 Tom Curry (Sale Sharks/England) #853, 7 Jac Morgan (Ospreys/Wales) #861, 8 Jack Conan (Leinster Rugby/Ireland) #839.
Replacements: 16 Luke Cowan-Dickie (Sale Sharks/England) #851, 17 Ellis Genge (Bristol Bears/ England) #859, 18 Finlay Bealham (Connacht Rugby/Ireland) #856, 19 James Ryan (Leinster Rugby/Ireland), 20 Ben Earl (Saracens/England) #857, 21 Alex Mitchell (Saints/England) #860, 22 Fin Smith (Saints/England) #862, 23 Garry Ringrose (Leinster Rugby/Ireland) #872.