Hooker Dan Sheehan wants to reward ‘the sea of red’ of British & Irish Lions supporters with victory in the first Test against Australia on Saturday.

With the warm-up games out of the way, the Lions will line up against the Wallabies in Brisbane, the city in which they have won the opening Tests in both of their previous two Tours of Australia.

In each of the 29-13 triumph at the Gabba in 2001 and the 23-21 victory at Suncorp Stadium in 2013, thousands of Lions supporters made their voices heard and vast numbers of them are expected to be in attendance again

Sheehan said: “The best way to connect with supporters is to give them a win.

“Performance is the way to do that. Yeah, we can give them a cheer and a clap after the game but ultimately that’s not what they came for – they came for a good game of rugby. If we do that, they’ll feel part of it.

“A goal of ours is to make sure that if we have a big crowd on Saturday – which we probably will – we bring them into the game and make it feel almost like a 50/50 game that could be anywhere in the world.

“But I still think it’s down to what we put out on the pitch, that’s how you get the crowd in behind you.

“It would be a good story and a good legacy to have a winning series. We haven’t delved too much into the wider picture.

“We did at the start when we were trying to frame the mindset, but this week has been all about Saturday.

“There’s going to be no holding anything back or waiting for the next two Tests. It’s all about Saturday.”

Sheehan is under no illusions that the Lions are going to need to step up their performances if they are to beat Australia, who are keen to put right the series loss the Wallabies suffered in 2013.

The Lions will admit to not always being on their best during the Qatar Airways British & Irish Lions Tour to Australia 2025, although they looked sharp in their final warm-up ahead of the Tests, the 48-0 win against the AUNZ Invitational XV last Saturday.

Sheehan, who has been part of a dominant Lions front row, said: "I think we have to find another level. We've had some close games in the last few weeks, so we definitely need to step up. We've talked about it.

"What we've done so far has been great and I think we've done a good job doing it, but there has to be a visible difference this week.

“We should be able to feel the energy off people. Everything is just going to be up a level."