Lions call up Scotland's Graham, Sutherland, and Ashman
Wing Darcy Graham, loosehead prop Rory Sutherland, and hooker Ewan Ashman, who were all part of Scotland's squad in New Zealand preparing for this weekend's Test against Samoa, will link up with the Lions in Australia.
The Lions say that Graham, Sutherland, and Ashman will 'provide cover for the First Nations & Pasifika XV fixture,' which takes place on Tuesday 22 July, in between the first and second Tests against the Wallabies.
Graham, who was unlucky to miss out on the original Lions squad, will join the Lions in Brisbane today ahead of the first Test against Australia, while Sutherland and Ashman will link up with the squad in Melbourne on Sunday.
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It means that by Sunday, the Lions squad will have gone from an initial 38-man group to a 44-player squad, presuming no one is sent home in the meantime.
These three Scottish call-ups appear to be similar to Farrell's decision to bring Ireland tighthead Thomas Clarkson into his squad, meaning that he won't have to risk any players from his frontline Test 23 in that final midweek fixture against the First Nations & Pasifika XV.
Farrell also brought in England hooker Jamie George and Ireland utility back Jamie Osborne recently, following injuries to Luke Cowan-Dickie and Blair Kinghorn, who also remain on tour.
When originally naming a 38-man squad for this tour, Lions head coach Farrell indicated that he had scope to call on additional players at a later stage in Australia should the tourists feel they needed extra cover.
The call-ups in recent days will bring up memories of the infamous 'Geography Six' call-ups during the 2017 Lions tour of New Zealand when head coach Warren Gatland brought in six additional players as cover ahead of the final midweek game in between the first and second Tests. Gatland picked two Scottish players and four Welsh players who were close to New Zealand at the time on their national squad tours.
Farrell was part of Gatland's coaching staff on that 2017 tour and evidently saw the value in having extra players to call on for the final midweek game.
This is Sutherland's second Lions tour, having featured under Gatland on the 2021 trip to South Africa, when he featured in two Tests.
28-year-old Graham, who must have been close to initial selection in Farrell's squad, was sent off for two yellow cards during Scotland's defeat to Fiji on Saturday.
The Edinburgh wing faced a disciplinary committee yesterday when the red card was deemed sufficient punishment.
25-year-old Edinburgh hooker Ashman was the back-up to Dave Cherry for Scotland during this year's Six Nations but he started last weekend's defeat to Fiji.
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