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Scott Quinnell: Pressure on Lions captain Sam Warburton to perform

Wednesday 5 June 2013 16:58, UK

Image: Sam Warburton has missed the Lions' opening two games due to a knee injury

Scott Quinnell says British and Irish Lions captain Sam Warburton needs to lay down a marker if he features against the Queensland Reds on Saturday.

Weakened

The Force, who lie third from bottom in the Super 15 table, fielded a weakened team for the first of the Lions' nine fixtures in Australia, prompting Sir Clive Woodward to declare the tourists were being treated with "contempt". But while their spirit was commendable, they were easy pickings for vastly superior opposition that ran in nine tries at Patersons Stadium. Seven members of the squad had never played Super Rugby before and Quinnell was dismayed by their decision to select a second string in anticipation of Sunday's match against the Waratahs. "I'm bitterly disappointed that they didn't put their strongest squad out - especially because they won't win the Super 15 this year," he said. "You can understand why (Australia coach) Robbie Deans wants to keep his international squad players out of harms away, especially given the injuries they've had, but you play your best side apart that. "People aren't looking at the player side of it because if I was a Western Force player and had to sit it out because I had a game on the weekend I'd be very disappointed."

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