The British & Irish Lions are facing mounting injury problems at tighthead prop after Zander Fagerson was ruled out of the tour of Australia with a calf injury, amid serious question marks over Tadhg Furlong’s fitness.
Fagerson, who has not appeared for Glasgow since early April, has been replaced in the squad by Ireland’s Finlay Bealham with a depleted group of 24 players heading to Portugal on Tuesday for a training camp.
With Leinster, Bath, Leicester and Toulouse players unavailable because of club commitments, Furlong will not travel to Portugal but he, too, is struggling with a calf injury, having not appeared since early May.
Will Stuart is preparing for Bath’s Premiership final against Leicester so, in Portugal, Andy Farrell is without all three of the tightheads named in the initial 38-man squad. As a result Asher Opoku‑Fordjour – who can play on either side of the scrum – has been added to the camp and the 20‑year‑old Sale prop must be in with a chance of making the full squad given the concerns over Furlong.
Fagerson’s withdrawal and the inclusion of Bealham takes the number of first-time Lions in the squad to 27 and is a bitter blow for the Glasgow forward. Stuart, meanwhile, impressed during the Six Nations and must now be considered the favourite for the No 3 jersey. If Furlong is ruled out, Farrell would be denied someone who has started the past six Lions Tests.
The former England captain Jamie George has also been added to the training camp. The Leinster duo of Dan Sheehan and Rónan Kelleher are both absent given the province’s involvement in the United Rugby Championship final on Saturday so George, who was unlucky to miss out on the initial squad, comes in to add to the hooker ranks. Luke Cowan‑Dickie will also be at the Portugal training camp after Sale’s semi-final defeat against Leicester last Saturday.
As things stand, George is not due to join the full squad and is still on course to tour Argentina with England. There is precedent, however, that suggests he may end up in Australia after Kelleher was called into the training camp four years ago before being added to the squad for the tour of South Africa.
In total, 17 of the players selected in the initial 38-man squad are unavailable. The 12-strong Leinster contingent as well as Finn Russell and Stuart of Bath and Ollie Chessum of Leicester have not made the trip to Portugal, nor Fagerson or Toulouse’s Blair Kinghorn.
Farrell has resisted any further call‑ups but early next week he will assess those players in action this weekend before deciding whether he needs to make additions for the warm‑up fixture against Argentina in Dublin on 20 June. The Leinster trio of Josh van der Flier, Hugo Keenan and Garry Ringrose are all nursing injuries.
Farrell said: “It’s tough on Zander to miss out so close to the tour, but now Finlay gets an opportunity to come in and add to the group. This is unfortunately part and parcel of the game, so we always have to be prepared for that. But it’s great to finally be at the stage where we can get on to the training ground and get to work with these players.
“Portugal will be really important for us as we look to get our house in order with only a few training sessions before we take on Argentina.”
