SKIPPER Sam Warburton will sit out the British and Irish Lions tour opener against the Barbarians in Hong Kong on Saturday.
Warburton is resting a knee injury, with head coach Warren Gatland today describing the Wales flanker's absence as "precautionary".
"Sam has just got a little knock," Gatland said.
"He has had a little bit of a sore knee for the last 10 days, and the medics have just given him an injection and said just to stay off it for about five days.
"He was desperate to play, but we felt just so early in the tour it was not worth the risk. It is just precautionary, and there are two or three players in the same boat.
"Sean O'Brien has bruising on the bone, Rob Kearney's hamstring is just a little bit tight and Gethin Jenkins's calf is a little bit tight as well. They are all hopeful and confident of being fit for either the (Western) Force game next Wednesday or the game in Brisbane."
Munster talisman Paul O'Connell takes over the captaincy for the Baa-baas clash to complete a remarkable comeback from injury.
"I suppose around Christmas, and even two or three months after Christmas, I certainly thought I wouldn't be here, so to be here and now captaining the side is fantastic," said O'Connell, who was laid low by groin and back problems.
"I am delighted. It's a very exciting occasion. We've had a few great weeks, and it has gone up another level since the Leicester boys and the Leinster boys came in.
"I am disappointed, obviously, for Sam. He has run a great ship the last few weeks."
Solitary Irishman O'Connell will take charge of a team containing nine Welshmen — including the entire back-row of Dan Lydiate, Justin Tipuric and Toby Faletau — three Scots and two English.
And Gatland has also selected a powerful bench containing the likes of Cian Healy, Alun Wyn Jones, Jamie Heaslip and Jonathan Sexton, which could be important given current sweltering temperatures and punishing humidity in Hong Kong.
With Warburton out, the New Zealander admitted his choice of O'Connell, who missed this season's entire RBS 6 Nations due to injury, was not a difficult one.
"Paul has been great the last few weeks," he added. "He has done a great job supporting Sam, and given us general leadership.
"It was an obvious decision to make, in terms of his experience, leadership and the respect he has within the squad. It was a very easy decision."
O'Connell, meanwhile, is determined for the tour to start with a bang ahead of arrival in Australia next Monday.
"I remember the first game we had in 2009. It was a very tough game, and we didn't play fabulously well, but we finished well and got the win," he said.
"It got us moving in the right direction, and if we can do that again this weekend it will be great.
"The guys have just completely dived into the whole thing — we are very tight already — and there is a big buzz, a big excitement about making this tour very special.
"I suppose there a few of us who have been on a few of them (Lions tours) before and haven't been successful, and it's not the greatest feeling ever.
"Guys that have won (Lions) Test series in our part of the world are a little bit different to the rest of us, so it's a question of trying to join them, and there is a big enthusiasm to do that."
British and Irish Lions (versus the Barbarians): S. Hogg (Scotland); A. Cuthbert (Wales), J. Davies (Wales), J. Roberts (Wales), S. Maitland (Scotland); O. Farrell (England), M. Phillips (Wales); M. Vunipola (England), R. Hibbard (Wales), A. Jones (Wales), R. Gray (Scotland), P. O'Connell (Ireland, capt), D. Lydiate (Wales), T. Faletau (Wales), J. Tipuric (Wales).
Replacements: T. Youngs (England), C. Healy (Ireland), M. Stevens (England), AW. Jones (Wales), J Heaslip (Ireland), C. Murray (Ireland), J. Sexton (Ireland), G. North (Wales).
