Lions pair Tuipulotu and Aki together to face Pumas

Argentina vs. the British and Irish Lions

Dublin’s Aviva Stadium Date: Friday, June 20 Kick-off: 20:00 BST

The British and Irish Lions’ central partnership will be Sione Tuipulotu of Scotland and Bundee Aki of Ireland against Argentina in Dublin on Friday night.

Tuipulotu, a Glasgow international who injured himself during the Six Nations, will play his first international rugby match since Scotland beat Australia in November, despite the fact that both players appear to be more natural inside centers.

Leinster hooker Ronan Kelleher, who was the only player to feature for their club side last week and will be on display at the Aviva Stadium, is still without the majority of the players who made it to the domestic finals, according to head coach Andy Farrell.

Tadhg Furlong, who has only played nine games this season due to injuries, is making a welcome comeback. Leinster haven’t featured for them since last month’s Investec Champions Cup defeat by Northampton.

Finlay Bealham, the tight-head’s Ireland counterpart, will start on the bench when Zander Fagerson, the Scotland prop, is ruled out of the trip because of injury, is expected to wear the three jersey.

At nine and ten, Alex Mitchell and Fin Smith, two Northampton Saints teammates, will play.

The Lions will have two of the 23 players who will make their first appearance against the Lions.

The two Welshmen in the tour group are first-timers as well.

Wales’ captain Jac Morgan is in the back row, and Tomos Williams, the team’s scrum-half cover, is on the bench.

The tour to South Africa began four years ago with the participation of backs Aki, Marcus Smith, Duhan van der Merwe, Luke Cowan-Dickie, Tadhg Beirne, and Tom Curry.

On that trip as well as the four-year visit to New Zealand, skipper Itoje and his replacement, Furlong and Elliot Daly, were present.

Although Andy Farrell has had his hands tense over the fact that 15 of his squad only arrived in camp on Monday, the first Lions selection of a tour is always highly anticipated, and this is no exception.

That indicates that he almost exclusively selected players from Portugal training last week. The centre pairing is intriguing, with Blair Kinghorn and Bundee Aki seen as rivals for the Test number 12 jersey but playing together, while Marcus Smith is at full-back and Hugo Keenan is at 23.

The starting XV features two of the Englishmen, two of whom are familiar, but Tadhg Furlong has been chosen as his replacement and makes the most of the bench.