O'Mahony To Lead The Lions Against New Zealand

O'Mahony To Lead The Lions Against New Zealand

Ireland flanker Peter O'Mahony will captain the British & Irish Lions against the All Blacks in Eden Park on Saturday.

The Munster captain led the Lions to a momentous victory over the Maori All Blacks last weekend, putting in a tireless 63 minute shift in Rotorua.

Before the victory against the Maori, Lions head coach Warren Gatland commented: â€śPeter is a proven captain with Munster who never takes a backward step and we believe that those leadership qualities will serve us well.''

O'Mahony has been in excellent form ever since his inspirational man-of-the-match performance against England in the Six Nations in March, he was a late call-up to the starting XV after Jamie Heaslip suffered an injury in the warm-up.

The 27-year-old hasn't looked back since that performance, before the British & Irish Lions squad was announced on the 19th April, O'Mahony admitted he was “not expecting anything” in terms of a call-up.


The last time the Lions beat the All Blacks in a Test at Eden Park, there was an Irishman at the helm, O'Mahony will be hoping to emulate Ronnie Dawson as a winner in Auckland.

The All Blacks are well aware of the potential skipper's reputation ahead of the Eden Park opener on Saturday.


New Zealand flanker Sam Cane is fullly aware of what O'Mahony can offer the Lions: "He's obviously a very strong lineout forward, an uncompromising type of player who leads by example.''
 
British and Irish Lions: 
 
15 Liam Williams, 14 Anthony Watson, 13 Jonathan Davies, 12 Ben Te’o, 11 Elliot Daly, 10 Owen Farrell, 9 Conor Murray,
 
8 Taulupe Faletau, 7 Sean O’Brien, 6 Peter O’Mahony (c), 5 George Kruis, 4 Alun Wyn Jones, 3 Tadgh Furlong, 2 Jamie George, 1 Mako Vunipola

Replacements: 16 Ken Owens, 17 Jack McGrath, 18 Kyle Sinckler, 19 Maro Itoje, 20 Sam Warburton, 21 Rhys Webb, 22 Jonathan Sexton, 23 Leigh Halfpenny 
 

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