Record number of Irish players will start first Lions Testpublished at 10:43 17 July
Nigel Ringland
BBC Sport Senior Journalist in Brisbane

Taghg Beirne will start in the back row for the Lions
Eight Ireland internationals will start for the British and Irish Lions in the first Test against Australia in Brisbane on Saturday.
Full-back Hugo Keenan, wing James Lowe and scrum-half Jamison Gibson-Park are named among the backs while Dan Sheehan, Tadhg Furlong, Joe McCarthy, Jack Conan and Tadhg Beirne will pack down together up front.
And there could be more appearances from the Irish contingent with prop Andrew Porter, hooker Ronan Kelleher and centre Bundee Aki all named amongst the replacements.
It equals the record of most Ireland players to start a Lions Test that dates back to the third Test in South Africa in 1938.
Five of the eight were from Ulster, including captain Sammy Walker.
Blair Mayne, George Cromey, Harry Mckibbin and Robert Alexander were the others and were joined by Robert Graves, Charles Boyles and George Morgan.
That game was also the last that the Lions wore blue shirts in a Test match.
None of the starters are a surprise with Keenan as the only recognised full-back in the squad at the moment with Blair Kinghorn out injured.
With Gary Ringrose out with concussion, an all-Scottish midfield combination of Huw Jones and Simone Tuipulotu is preferred with Aki starting on the bench.
Perhaps the most debated selection is that of Beirne over England’s Ollie Chessum in the back row alongside Conan and Tom Curry with Josh Van der Flier missing out.
At times Beirne has not looked like his normal commanding self, but he has captained the side to a pair of wins.
“Yeah, I suppose that's the hotly contested one, part of the side that's been talked about for quite some time and rightly so because of the quality that we've got there,” admitted Farrell.
”Obviously we feel that that's the right balance for the first test, the combination of Taghg, being the type of player that he is, as far as his quality in the set piece but yet his all-round ability, either on the floor or a ball-playing six.
“I think that complements Jack in a similar regard and Tom being the engine that we all know that you need in regards to Test match football.”