The Lions team to face the Chiefs was bound to cause some consternation, what with Gatland's call-ups yesterday. That team has now been named, and it brings with it some bad news for a quintet of Irish internationals.
Five Irish internationals have had their ambitions of being involved against the All Blacks in the first Test dashed, as they've bee named in the midweek side to take on the Chiefs on Tuesday.
Rory Best captains a side that also features Iain Henderson, CJ Stander, Jared Payne, and Robbie Henshaw.
Elsewhere, the bench largely consists of Gatland's controversial mid-tour call-ups: Kristian Dacey, Allan Dell, Tomas Francis, Corey Hill, Gareth Davies, and Finn Russell are all on the bench, alongside Tommy Seymour and Alun-Wyn Jones.
Sam Warburton is not involved at all: the captain should make the 23 for the first Test, if not the starting team.
Here's the Lions team to face the Chiefs in full:
Joe Marler, Rory Best (c), Dan Cole; Iain Henderson, Courtney Lawes; James Haskell, Justin Tipuric, CJ Stander; Greg Laidlaw, Dan Biggar; Elliot Daly; Robbie Henshaw, Jared Payne; Jack Nowell, Liam Williams
📰 TEAM ANNOUNCEMENT | Here are the 23 players to face @ChiefsRugby on Tuesday👇#CHIvBIL details 👉 https://t.co/UOrIFlALMT#LionsNZ2017 pic.twitter.com/ql3BJLgrQQ
— British & Irish Lions (@lionsofficial) June 18, 2017
The game kicks off at 8.35am Irish time, on Tuesday morning.
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