Melbourne Rebels v British and Irish Lions - Tour match preview

The Lions won five of their six tour games before edging out Australia 23-21 in the first Test in Brisbane on Saturday.

They will now face the Rebels ahead of the second Test, with head coach Warren Gatland having to shuffle his options.

Geoff Parling had been due to skipper the side, however Paul O'Connell's injury means the England lock has been withdrawn with a view to starting against the Wallabies on Saturday.

Dan Lydiate takes over the captaincy with Ian Evans joining Richie Gray in the second row.

Having seen a weakened line-up, featuring a guest appearance from Shane Williams, lose to the Brumbies, the Lions looked to have learned their lesson by naming a strong XV.

Return

Sean Maitland, Owen Farrell, Richard Hibbard, Dan Cole and Lydiate were all start having been on the bench for the first Test, while Manu Tuilagi makes his return from injury.

Rob Kearney, Brad Barritt, Simon Zebo and Conor Murray get a chance to impress in the back division, while Ryan Grant, Sean O'Brien and Toby Faletau complete the forward line-up.

There will be a familiar face in the Rebels side, with former Wales No 8 Gareth Delve leading out the Melbourne franchise.

Delve will skipper a strong Rebels line-up, with Wallabies scrum-half Luke Burgess set to make his first start.

The Rebels, though, are without their marquee players as Kurtley Beale, James O'Connor and Nick Phipps are away on international duty.

Rebels:15 Jason Woodward, 14 Tom English, 13 Mitch Inman, 12 Rory Sidey, 11 Lachlan Mitchell, 10 Bryce Hegarty, 9 Luke Burgess, 1 Nic Henderson, 2 Ged Robinson, 3 Laurie Weeks, 4 Cadeyrn Neville, 5 Hugh Pyle, 6 Jarrod Saffy, 7 Scott Fuglistaller, 8 Gareth Delve (c).
Replacements: 16 Pat Leafa, 17 Cruze Ah Nau, 18 Paul Alo-Emile 19 Luke Jones, 20 Jordy Reid, 21 Nic Stirzaker, 22 Angus Roberts, 23 Cooper Vuna.

British and Irish Lions: 15 Rob Kearney, 14 Sean Maitland, 13 Manu Tuilagi, 12 Brad Barritt, 11 Simon Zebo, 10 Owen Farrell, 9 Conor Murray, 1 Ryan Grant, 2 Richard Hibbard, 3 Dan Cole, 4 Richie Gray, 5 Ian Evans, 6 Dan Lydiate (capt), 7 Sean O'Brien, 8 Toby Faletau.
Replacements: 16 Rory Best, 17 Tom Court, 18 Matt Stevens, 19 Tom Croft, 20 Justin Tipuric, 21 Ben Youngs, 22 Billy Twelvetrees, 23 Stuart Hogg

Watch every Lions game live only on Sky Sports. Click here to sign up or upgrade now.