British & Irish Lions vs Western Force: Injury boost as two Scotland stars plus Ireland pair in contention
The latest British and Irish Lions team news from their tour to Australia.
British and Irish Lions head coach Andy Farrell has a number of injury concerns to contend with ahead of his side’s first game in Australia this summer.
An eagerly anticipated Lions summer kicked off an a low point on Friday night as they suffered a defeat against Argentina at Dublin’s Aviva Stadium. After training over the following days, the Lions squad arrived down under on Monday and are now preparing to step up their preparations for their three-test series with the Wallabies.
A first warm-up fixture down under will come on Saturday when the Lions face Super Rugby Pacific side Western Force at the Optus Stadium in Perth and that could provide Scotland centre Huw Jones with his first ever appearance for the Lions after he shook off an Achilles injury that prevented him from featuring against Argentina. However, Farrell is awaiting news on the fitness of Ireland duo Jamison Gibson-Park (glute injury) and Hugo Keenan (calf injury), who were both unable to feature in Leinster’s United Rugby Championship win against South African side Bulls earlier this month.
British & Irish Lions vs Western Force team news
Gibson-Park and full-back Keenan both missed Leinster's United Rugby Championship final win. Neither has been ruled out of this weekend’s match but it’s likely they will not be risked this early in the tour if not fully fit.
Scotland full-back Blair Kinghorn will not be available to feature after Toulouse qualified for the Top 14 final and he will feature in Saturday’s showdown with Bordeaux Begles before travelling to meet up with the rest of the Lions squad next week. The likes of Finn Russell, Gary Ringrose, Ollie Chessum and Josh van de Flier will hope to see some action after missing out in the defeat against the Pumas.
Speaking about the fitness of the Ireland duo and Scotland star Jones, head coach Farrell said: "We'll see how they pull up in midweek. Huw Jones is good, he's been training. He trained fully with us last week so he's up and running."
Scotland winger Duhan van der Merwe was seen with ice on his foot after the Lions' loss to Argentina in Dublin on Friday. However, Farrell confirmed there were no fresh injury concerns beyond what was already reported, meaning the Edinburgh try machine is in contention to face Western Force.
Is the Western Force v British and Irish Lions game being shown live on television?
The Lions will kickstart their preparations for their three-test series against Australia down under when they face Super Rugby Pacific side Western Force. The game will take place on Saturday, June 28 and kick-off at the Optus Stadium in Perth has been set for 11am BST (8pm AEST)
Sky Sports are showing every one of the Lions warm-up and test matches during their tour down under. They will be broadcasting live from the Optus Stadium on Saturday and their coverage will get underway at 10am via their Sky Sports Main Event and Sky Sports Action channels. talkSPORT will have also live radio commentary of the match.
Your next Rugby read: Western Force vs British & Irish Lions: UK kick off time, TV information and team news