Lions vs British & Irish Lions Preview & Tips - B+I Lions backed in handicap market

The British & Irish Lions should have far too much quality for the local Lions franchise. We are tipping the tourists in the handicap market.

The British and Irish Lions have only played the Lions once, that was on their 2009 tour of South Africa. The B+I Lions won that match 74-10.

This will be the highlight of many players’ career when they face the tourists on Saturday. For those who won’t play international rugby, this is about as close as it gets.

The one thing that we have learned from previous British & Irish Lions tours is that the provincial warm-up matches can be very physical affairs. The Lions are in the midst of a Currie Cup campaign but there will be no holding back here.

They lost their opening Currie Cup fixture 39-10 to the Pumas but bounced back superbly with a 38-32 home win against Western Province just over a week ago.

Jordan Hendrikse will start at flyhalf with the more experienced Fred Zeilinga on the bench. Just outside him at inside centre Burger Odendaal will start.

A mixture of experience and youth has been picked for this clash. The very exciting Rabz Maxwane starts on the left wing.

The British and Irish Lions arrived in South Africa few days ago and will get their tour underway with a clash against the local Lions. They will play a total of five tour matches before the 1st Test against South Africa.

Last week the B+I Lions played Japan at Murrayfield to get a game in before the tour commenced. As was expected, they took time to click as these games are more about combinations and time on the field than results.

The B+I Lions beat Japan 28-10 which signals a decent result against a strong international side. This week, despite the changes, they will face a side with far less international players considering the South African national players may not feature due to the bio-bubble.

Stuart Hogg will lead a new-look British and Irish Lions outfit on Saturday. Warren Gatland has made 14 changes to his starting lineup from last week.

Lock Jonny Hill, flank Hamish Watson, centre Chris Harris and wing Louis Rees-Zmmit will all make their Lions debuts.