Western Daily Press (Saturday)
George to lead Lions in rematch
THE British & Irish Lions have been given the green light to play today’s match against the Sharks in Pretoria after the latest round of PCR testing returned a set of negative results.
The player who initially produced a positive on Wednesday has since tested negative twice, allowing all but one of the squad personnel who were isolating at the team hotel in Johannesburg to come back into contention for selection once more.
England hooker Jamie George will lead a side containing 13 changes from the XV that thumped the same opponents 54-7 at Emirates Airline Park on Wednesday, with centre Elliot Daly and wing Duhan van der Merwe the survivors.
The teams clash for a second time in four days after the Bulls, today’s original opponents, were forced to pull out because of an outbreak of coronavirus. Gareth Davies and Dan Biggar were the intended half-backs for the first meeting but they start at Loftus Versfeld, while Anthony Watson makes his first start of the tour on the right wing.
All of the players withdrawn from the original 23 because of the initial positive tests are present except fullback Stuart Hogg, who faced a late fitness check because of a dead leg.
England head coach Eddie Jones insists Alex Dombrandt could boast limitless potential as the Harlequins number eight gears up for his Red Rose debut this afternoon.
The powerful back-rower will make his Test match bow against Canada at Twickenham, fresh from helping Quins storm to the Gallagher Premiership title.
Dombrandt forced his way into England’s training squad in 2019 but narrowly missed out on a place at that year’s World Cup in Japan.
But now, after honing his game at Harlequins, England boss Jones believes the 24-year-old is ready to start an exciting Test adventure.
“We haven’t seen the best of Alex yet,” said Jones. “If he keeps that desire to improve, takes the hard knocks and learns from it, there is no limit on where he can go as a player because he’s got some special skills.”