Lions play down Mack Hansen injury concerns, call in three Scots for cover
Lions
assistant coach John Dalziel has played down concerns over a shoulder injury sustained by Mack Hansen towards the end of Saturday's
48-0 win over the AUNZ Invitational XV
in Adelaide.
Those fears were compounded when the Lions' management confirmed the Scottish trio of Rory Sutherland, Ewan Ashman and winger Darcy Graham will join the squad 'to provide cover for the First Nations & Pasifika XV fixture'.
All three are part of the
Scotland
side currently in New Zealand preparing for a fixture against Samoa. Graham is set to join the Lions on Monday, followed by Sutherland and Ashman who will linked up with the squad in Melbourne on Sunday.
'He's fine and he's doing the walk-through today,' said Dalziel when asked about Hansen.
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As to why Graham is arriving ahead of his Scottish team-mates, who could play against Samoa on Friday, Dalziel said: 'We know that Garry (Ringrose) is out, so any contact training he's out of as well. It's just to give us enough cover for training.'
Calling up the Scottish trio, in addition to
Thomas Clarkson
's summons over the weekend, has inevitably drawn comparisons with the so-called 'Geography Six' of Welsh and Scottish players who were supplemented to the Lions squad at a similar juncture on the 2017 tour in New Zealand.
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'Coming off the back of five games in two weeks and now we're into the business side of it, the Test week. We're looking at some knocks and injuries from the games and just the ability to add a little bit of depth and cover to facilitate training this week, and looking at next week where we have Saturday, Tuesday, then the second Test,' said Dalziel.
He added there are no new injuries per se. 'No, nothing that's been reported. Obviously, we had the head injuries which are on 12-day mandatory (rest),' said Dalziel, referencing Ringrose and Luke Cowan-Dickie. 'So we're trying to manage around them and make sure we have enough training numbers on the grass as well.'
Ringrose will have completed his 12-day stand down in time for the match against a First Nations and Pasifika XV in Melbourne on July 22nd.
Whether any of the late Lions call-ups will stay until the end of the tour will be decided on an 'individual basis', but Dalziel refuted accusations that the spate of additional players will devalue the Lions jersey.
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'No, I think naturally at this stage of the tour that the games that are more intense. Geographically, we're getting people here if they do need to play. I think it's the right time to do it with the right players. We're not giving away opportunities lightly. It's quality players like Darcy Graham and Rory Sutherland, an ex-Lions international. These are players who will come in and add value to the group.'
Dalziel also said Blair Kinghorn had not yet been ruled out of Saturday's First Test against the Wallabies in Brisbane's Suncorp Stadium (kick-off 11am Irish time).
As for Clarkson's call-up, Dalziel said: 'We've seen his form at the end of the season so he was hugely on the radar, and now in Test weeks it just takes an injury in training or at the weekend, and in specialist positions, you're a bit light. The days and difficulty you get travel-wise, we felt it's the right time in the tour to bolster that up in areas that are going to be vital.'
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