A huge chunk of the British and Irish Lions squad will be absent from this week’s preparations for their upcoming tour of Australia. Andy Farrell named his 38-strong group last month and they will play their first match against Argentina next weekend. After that, they will travel to Australia for a nine-match tour which includes a three-game series against the Wallabies.
Before facing Argentina, the Lions will fly out to Portugal for a warm-weather training camp. They will be without a large contingent of players who are yet to link up with their team-mates due to their club commitments. A total of 16 players will be missing from the group, which is more than 40 per cent of the squad.
No less than 12 of those players will be involved for Leinster in the United Rugby Championship final against the Bulls on Saturday. It means they will be unable to join the Lions squad until the week of the Argentina match, which will take place in Dublin.
Andrew Porter, Dan Sheehan, Joe McCarthy, James Ryan, Jack Conan, Jamison Gibson-Park and James Lowe all started in Leinster’s semi-final victory over the Glasgow Warriors, while Ronan Kelleher contributed from the bench.
Tadhg Furlong, Garry Ringrose, Josh van der Flier and Hugo Keenan are recovering from injuries and will be watching from the stands on Saturday.
Meanwhile, England duo Will Stuart and Ollie Chessum as well as Scotland fly-half Finn Russell will be involved in the Gallagher Premiership final between Bath and Leicester Tigers.
Blair Kinghorn, who is nursing a knee injury, is also yet to join the Lions squad. According to the Toulouse website, he has ‘completed the final tests and is conditioning to validate a return to the squad’.
Toulouse finished in first place as the regular season in France came to an end on Saturday night. Their next match will be a playoff semi-final on the same weekend the Lions are due to host Argentina.
The absences will leave Farrell working with just 22 players until those involved with their clubs link up with the rest of the squad. It remains to be seen if any reinforcements will be brought in to bolster the group.
Speaking last month, the Lions head coach suggested there was room to add two more players to his 38-man squad before they jet off to Australia.
Owen Farrell will be among those hoping for a late call-up, with his father saying: “He was in the conversation, obviously. He is an experienced player like that going for his fourth tour. He’d cover all bases, that’s for sure.
“We got to a point where, like with a few other players as well, Owen is still finding his way back to full fitness. There are 38 picked, which leaves a couple of spots open for us if and where needed. Owen, like a few, would be in that bracket.”