Ireland"s Kearney is a serious injury worry for tourists

Ireland full-back Rob Kearney – one of the British and Irish Lions’ star men in South Africa four years ago – is battling to prevent his Australia adventure from ending before it has started.

Lions boss Warren Gatland admitted today that Kearney’s hamstring injury – confirmed as a grade one tear following scans in Hong Kong – is a concern.

While there are currently no plans to summon a replacement for the 27-year-old Leinster player, he has clearly got a testing fitness battle on his hands.

The Lions have two other outstanding full-backs on tour in Welshman Leigh Halfpenny and Scottish prospect Stuart Hogg, which seemingly takes the heat off Kearney a little.

But the Lions would not want to lose a player who shone against the Springboks in 2009 and has won 46 Test caps.

“We want to give him some time,” Gatland said.

“We scanned him in Hong Kong. It came back as a grade one tear, and the medics have put in a plan for the next week or so.

“We feel like we’ve got cover at the moment with Leigh Halfpenny and Stuart Hogg – and obviously Sean Maitland has played quite a lot at full-back as well.

“But we will see how Rob progresses. There have been some markers put in place, and if we can hit those in the right timescale we can hopefully bring him back. But it looks a little bit concerning at this stage.”

Kearney’s Ireland and Leinster colleague Brian O’Driscoll will captain the Lions in tomorrow’s first Australia tour match against Western Force.

O’Driscoll, the 2005 Lions tour captain in New Zealand whose trip was cruelly cut short when he was spear-tackled out of the first Test, leads a powerful side containing eight Irishmen, four Welsh and three English.

As expected, there are 15 changes from the side that crushed the Barbarians 59-8 in hot and humid Hong Kong two days ago, with Halfpenny, wing Tommy Bowe, centre Manu Tuilagi, hooker Rory Best and flanker Tom Croft among those who make their first tour starts.

Four of the side that started at Hong Kong Stadium – prop Mako Vunipola, number eight Toby Faletau, fly-half Owen Farrell and wing Maitland – are on bench duty this time around.

Tour skipper Sam Warburton is kept waiting for his first appearance following careful management of a knee injury, but that moment looks set to arrive against Queensland Reds in Brisbane next Saturday.

“We’ve said that we were going to keep him (Warburton) out of training for about five days after he had that injection,” Gatland added.

“He has been coming back and doing some of his own training, so the five days was before he was ready to start full contact.

“We are just trying to make sure that everyone is getting the same opportunity, and we want the whole team training together that is taking the field.

“It’s only fair to the other players around him that they get that chance and so Sam, after Wednesday, will come and train with us over the next couple of days with the non-23 and then put himself into contention for selection for Saturday.”

L Halfpenny (Wales); T Bowe (Ireland), B O’Driscoll (Ireland, capt), M Tuilagi (England), G North (Wales); J Sexton (Ireland), C Murray (Ireland); C Healy (Ireland), R Best (Ireland), D Cole (England), A-W Jones (Wales), I Evans (Wales), T Croft (England), S O’Brien (Ireland), J Heaslip (Ireland).

Replacements: T Youngs (England), M Vunipola (England), M Stevens (England), G Parling (England), T Faletau (Wales), B Youngs (England), O Farrell (England), S Maitland (Scotland).

Article source: http://tvnz.co.nz/rugby-news/england-turn-youth-take-barbarians-5447639

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Ireland"s Kearney is a serious injury worry for tourists