Lions looking to tie series

The British and Irish Lions made five changes – three of them in a reinforced pack – for the crunch second Test against South Africa at Loftus Versfeld.

After falling to a 26-21 defeat in Durban, the Lions had to win in order to keep the series alive and avoid a record seventh consecutive Test defeat on tour.

Adam Jones and Matthew Rees started in an all-Welsh front row – the first for 54 years – and were charged with taming Tendai ’The Beast’ Mtawarira, whose demolition job on Phil Vickery put the Springboks on course for victory last weekend.

Simon Shaw, the oldest Lions Test debutant at 35, brought added aggression into the second row in a bid to neutralise the Springbok rolling maul.

The Lions featured a post-war record seven Irishmen, including full-back Rob Kearney and Luke Fitzgerald who had replaced the injured Lee Byrne and Ugo Monye respectively.

South Africa made just one change to their starting XV, with Schalk Burger winning his 50th Test cap in the back row, but they did include five forwards on the bench.