Hungry Lions bid for 98-year first as Wallabies desperate to avoid series clean sweep.

Andy Farrell has made two changes to his British & Irish Lions team that will take the field in the third and final Test of the Qatar Airways Lions Men’s Series at the Accor Stadium in Sydney on Saturday, kick off 11 am UK time

Leinster and Ireland’s James Ryan, and Toulouse and Scotland’s Blair Kinghorn come into the starting line-up replacing Ollie Chessum in the second row and James Lowe on the left wing, respectively.

Saracens and England lock Maro Itoje will lead out the side while in the front row, the Leinster and Ireland trio of Andrew Porter, Dan Sheehan and Tadhg Furlong is retained with Furlong set to start his ninth consecutive Test match for the Lions.

The backrow of Sale Sharks and England’s Tom Curry is at openside, Leinster and Ireland’s Jack Conan at No.8 and Munster and Ireland’s Tadhg Beirne at blindside is named to start a third consecutive Test.

Leinster and Ireland’s Jamison Gibson-Park and Bath Rugby and Scotland’s Finn Russell are retained as the half-back pairing at scrum-half and flyhalf respectively.

Connacht Rugby and Ireland’s Bundee Aki is again partnered with Glasgow Rugby and Scotland’s Huw Jones in midfield. Kinghorn is introduced into the back three alongside Northampton Saints and England’s Tommy Freeman and Leinster and Ireland’s Hugo Keenan.

The British & Irish Lions, who tour the southern hemisphere every four years, have not swept a Test series since making short work of Argentina 3-nil way back in 1927.

This ruthless Lions squad, led by head coach Andy Farrell and captain Maro Itoje, have not hidden their desire for greatness and to be recognised as one of the best Lions teams ever.

Lions Head Coach Andy Farrell said: “We have put ourselves in a great position to finish this Tour with our best performance to date and create our own piece of history.

“Last weekend’s Test match in Melbourne was an incredible spectacle and illustrated how special Lions Tours are and what it means to both the players and the supporters.

“We are expecting another epic battle this weekend against a Wallaby side that showed their quality last week.”

Pride will well and truly be on the line in Sydney when the Wallabies attempt to prevent the Lions going home with wins in all three Tests after victories in Brisbane and Melbourne.

That hasn’t happened since it occurred 121 years ago when the Lions, then called British Isles, won two Tests in Sydney and one in Brisbane, and restricted Australia to just three points for the entire series.

If that’s not enough motivation for the Wallabies to win, there is also the hurt of the second Test loss at the MCG, where Australia led for almost the entire match only to be beaten 29-26 via a last-minute try.

Wallabies coach Joe Schmidt has made four changes to his starting side for this Saturday’s 82,000 sell-out crowd at Sydney’s Accor Stadium, with Racing 92-bound tighthead prop Taniela Tupou coming in for his first Test appearance of the year.

Tupou, who faced the Lions nine days ago for the First Nations & Pasifika XV replaces the injured Allan Alaalatoa, partnering hooker David Porecki and loosehead James Slipper, now set for his 147th international.

Rob Valetini has been rested after his explosive 40-minute comeback from injury in last Saturday’s second Test and is replaced at blindside flanker Tom Hooper alongside fellow back-rowers Fraser McReight and captain Harry Wilson.

Scrum-half Nic White has been named to start in his 73rd and final Wallabies Test, having announced his retirement from Test rugby, as he replaces Jake Gordon. Dylan Pietsch replaces 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.”

AUSTRALIA: Tom Wright; Max Jorgensen, Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii, Len Ikitau, Dylan Pietsch; Tom Lynagh, Nic White; James Slipper, David Porecki, Taniela Tupou; Nick Frost, Will Skelton; Tom Hooper, Fraser McReight, Harry Wilson - captain.
Replacements: Billy Pollard, Angus Bell, Zane Nonggorr, Jeremy Williams, Langi Gleeson, Tate McDermott, Ben Donaldson, Andrew Kellaway

BRITISH & IRISH LIONS: Hugo Keenan (Leinster/Ireland); Tommy Freeman (Northampton Saints/England), Huw Jones (Glasgow Warriors/Scotland), Bundee Aki (Connacht/Ireland), Blair Kinghorn (Toulouse/Scotland); Finn Russell (Bath/Scotland), Jamison Gibson-Park (Leinster/Ireland); Andrew Porter (Leinster/Ireland), Dan Sheehan (Leinster/Ireland), Tadhg Furlong (Leinster/Ireland); Maro Itoje (Saracens/England) - captain. James Ryan (Leinster/Ireland); Tadhg Beirne (Munster/Ireland), Tom Curry (Sale Sharks/England), Jack Conan (Leinster/Ireland).
Replacements: Ronan Kelleher (Leinster/Ireland), Ellis Genge (Bristol Bears/England), Will Stuart (Bath/England), Ollie Chessum (Leicester Tigers/England), Jac Morgan (Ospreys/Wales), Ben Earl (Saracens/England), Alex Mitchell (Northampton Saints/England), Owen Farrell (Saracens/England).

Match Officials
Referee: Nika Amashukeli (GRU)
Assistant Referees: Ben O'Keeffe (NZR), Andrea Piardi (FIR)
Television Match Official: Marius Jonker (SARU)
Split Screen: Richard Kelly (NZR)

Remember to watch for the PPA Flag