logo
Zander Fagerson ruled out of Lions tour as Jamie George among call-ups to squad

Zander Fagerson ruled out of Lions tour as Jamie George among call-ups to squad

Independenta day ago

Scotland prop Zander Fagerson has been ruled out of the British and Irish Lions tour to Australia, with Ireland's Finlay Bealham replacing the tighthead in Andy Farrell 's squad.
Fagerson has been struggling with a calf issue and missed Glasgow's United Rugby Championship semi-final defeat to Leinster this weekend, and will now miss out on a second trip with the quadrennial tourists.
Bealham joins international teammate Tadhg Furlong, also dealing with a calf injury currently, and England's Will Stuart as tighthead options available to head coach Farrell as the Lions prepare to begin their itinerary against Argentina in Dublin on Friday 20 June.
With Furlong and Stuart preparing for the URC and Premiership finals with Leinster and Bath respectively, Sale and England youngster Asher Opoku-Fordjour will join up with the Lions squad at a training camp in Portugal this week.
Hooker Jamie George, who narrowly missed out on selection, will also travel to Quinta do Lago with Ronan Kelleher and Dan Sheehan occupied with Leinster's preparations for a meeting with the Bulls at Croke Park on Saturday.
'It's tough on Zander to miss out so close to the Tour, but now Finlay gets an opportunity to come in and add to the group,' Farrell said. 'This is unfortunately part and parcel of the game, so we always have to be prepared for that.
'But it's great to finally be at the stage where we can get onto the training ground and get to work with these players. Portugal will be really important for us as we look to get our house in order with only a few training sessions before we take on Argentina in the 1888 Cup in Dublin.'
While the URC and Premiership finalists have not been ruled out of the clash with the Pumas at the Aviva Stadium, the turnaround is tight with just six days between the showpiece occasions and the opening fixture of the Lions' summer. It may be, then, that either George or Opoku-Fordjour are yet retained to feature in the game.
England centurion George toured in 2017 and 2021, while for Opoku-Fordjour, 20, this will be a first taste of Lions involvement.
Bealham, meanwhile, is set to return to Australia, with the Canberra-born prop impressing since making his Ireland debut in 2016. He started every game of the Six Nations.

Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Kagiso Rabada backed to use one month drug ban as motivation as South Africa aim to dethrone Australia in World Test Championship final
Kagiso Rabada backed to use one month drug ban as motivation as South Africa aim to dethrone Australia in World Test Championship final

Daily Mail​

timean hour ago

  • Daily Mail​

Kagiso Rabada backed to use one month drug ban as motivation as South Africa aim to dethrone Australia in World Test Championship final

South African fast bowler Kagiso Rabada will use his month-long ban for taking cocaine as extra motivation as his side prepare for the World Test Championship final against Australia at Lord's. Rabada, whose Test record of 327 wickets at 22 makes him the undisputed leader of the South African attack, insisted recently that he would not be a 'Mr-I-Apologise too much' after a routine test during the SA20 in January revealed traces of the drug. And South Africa captain Temba Bavuma said Rabada's experience would spur him on against an Australian side who are favourites to retain the title they won two years ago after beating India at The Oval. 'It's definitely a motivation,' said Bavuma. 'It's been a couple of weeks now that everything has unfolded, and he put himself on the spot for further questioning from any of the players. As far as we know, that's behind us. 'He's in the best shape that he's ever been. 'We also play against the Australians as well, so that will be extra motivation for him. He's in a very good space.' Bavuma believes South Africa have a chance to exploit Australian vulnerability at the top of the order, with Marnus Labuschagne moving up to open for the first time in his 58 Tests, and Cameron Green – who scored three centuries during a five-match championship stint with Gloucestershire – also earning a promotion, to No 3.

South Pacific tour ‘crucial' to Scotland seeding for World Cup
South Pacific tour ‘crucial' to Scotland seeding for World Cup

Rhyl Journal

timean hour ago

  • Rhyl Journal

South Pacific tour ‘crucial' to Scotland seeding for World Cup

The Scots kick off with a match against the Maori All Blacks in Whangarei, New Zealand on July 5 before they take on Fiji a week later, with the match marking Scotland's first game on Fijian soil since 2017. In their final game, Scotland take on Samoa in Auckland, New Zealand at the historic Eden Park on July 18. Head coach Townsend, who named Rory Darge as captain with George Turner returning to the fold after missing the last year of international rugby following his move to Kobelco Kobe Steelers in Japan, said: 'We know that playing Test matches for Scotland and winning Test matches for Scotland is really important, so we have to pick a strong squad to take on the likes of Fiji and Samoa. Your 36-player squad for the @skyscanner Pacific Tour 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 Read more ➡ — Scottish Rugby (@Scotlandteam) June 10, 2025 'It's an even more important issue with the world-ranking points. The World Cup draw gets made after November, so these games are crucial to make sure we've got the best chance of being in that top six and getting a better seeding. 'There's always, maybe one or two players that we decided not to select not because of form, but because we think it's not right for them to go into tour at this time. 'But other than that, it's as strong as a squad as we could select, and the benefit of having that third game of the game against Maori All Blacks will mean that we will everybody in tour will get game time, and players that maybe haven't played as much for us in the past are going to get game time on the tour and game time for Scotland.' Head Coach Gregor Townsend discusses his selections for the @Skyscanner Pacific Tour. Watch the video here ➡️ — Scottish Rugby (@Scotlandteam) June 10, 2025 There are three uncapped players named by head coach Gregor Townsend – stand-off Fergus Burke, back-row Alexander Masibaka and tighthead prop Fin Richardson – although all three have been involved with the squad before. In the back row, Matt Fagerson has been included despite missing the end of season with Glasgow through injury but there is no place for Jack Dempsey, who had been sidelined since the Six Nations win over Wales in March. Forwards Andy Onyeama-Christie and Max Williamson are back in after injury. Townsend said he was pleased to be able to recall Turner, who has signed for Harlequins for next season. He said: 'I think when George went to Japan, we never knew whether that would be extended and he was there until the end of his career, which would make it very difficult for him to be considered for us, given the Japan season is played during the Six Nations. 'So it was very good news that he got a club back in the UK and he was really keen to be back involved with us.' Townsend believes some of the Scotland players who narrowly missed out on selection for the British and Irish Lions squad for the tour of Australia may yet get their chance. He said: 'I don't want to say we hope that to happen because that means someone's been injured on the tour, but if someone does get injured, then we would like to feel that our players in a strong position. Some would have been very close to selection anyway. 'If they're playing in New Zealand or in Fiji and playing well, then that gives them an even bigger opportunity to potentially join the Lions tour. 'We've seen the weekend, unfortunately for us was Zander (Fagerson) being injured, but there will be injuries on the way to Australia and during the tour in Australia. 'But the good thing for our players and those that maybe were closer to selection is they were so keen to come out and tour. They've had long seasons, but some of these players are in great form. I look at the weekend and seeing lots of Rory Darge and Tom Jordan still playing some of their best rugby at this time of the season. 'So that's great for us as we go to tour, but it should be also good for chances of getting on the Lions tour.' Scotland Under-20 men's assistant coach Fergus Pringle has been appointed as forwards coach for the tour, deputising for John Dalziel, who will be with the Lions.

Incongruity of World Test Championship final fails to dampen Australian excitement
Incongruity of World Test Championship final fails to dampen Australian excitement

The Guardian

time2 hours ago

  • The Guardian

Incongruity of World Test Championship final fails to dampen Australian excitement

In Australia it is winter, and it is footy season. AFL, NRL, the works. The autumn was passing strange, with unnervingly high temperatures and Gold Coast Suns in the top four. But now it is June, and feeling more as it should, with nights in the southern half of the continent dipping deep into single degrees. The Raiders must be breathing out steam on Canberra mornings, half remembering dreams of ending a premiership wait. And strangely positioned among all this, the Australian Test team is getting ready to play cricket. Australian winter tours happen, but outside the occasional Asian or Caribbean jaunt this century, they're confined to quadrennial visits to England. Two years ago, the first time Australia qualified for a World Test Championship final, that match came directly before an Ashes series. As well as turning the supposed culmination into an incongruous entree, it also made the WTC final melt into the Ashes summer. This time, things are different. England will shortly start another five-Test series with India, but neither side is involved in the WTC. So it will be England the cricket board rather than England the cricket team that hosts Australia and South Africa, whose struggle for the right to be called world champions will be based not on a series but a single match. An imperfect mechanism, but it means that this time around, in an Australian consciousness, that match will stand alone. So it is that among the footy news of dawn beach sessions and tribunal verdicts, Pat Cummins is back at Lord's this week after half the time that an Ashes cycle would otherwise dictate, wearing the green cap and blazer while wandering about the pavilion doing moody photo shoots as one half of an exercise in height contrast with South Africa's Temba Bavuma. Their squads run drills on the main turf, the pleasantness of white knitted jumpers covering the ugliness of synthetic training kit. The timing may be incongruous, but that classic visual cue says it's time for a Test. The ICC has gone full-court press on promotion, making sure these images are distributed far and wide. Their Hall of Fame announcement was what the marketing types might call something like a brand crossover activation, with four of the seven inductees reflecting the upcoming contest: for South Africa, batting contemporaries Graeme Smith and Hashim Amla; for Australia, their rival Matthew Hayden, along with New Zealand player but current Australia assistant coach Daniel Vettori. Approaching the third WTC final, the concept of a Test format decider is starting to cut through. Press access is oversubscribed, largely by English publications for a neutral contest. Public tickets are sold out. It will be a different crowd to the usual. London has plenty of Australians and South Africans, and the latter are starving for global tournament success in any form, so expect both camps to turn out in numbers. After the unhinged reaction that Lord's gave Australia in 2023, in a spontaneous bout of moralising from the Long Room to the back rows, it might make for a nicer atmosphere to have the England supporter base diluted. It will still be plenty aggressive on the field. Kagiso Rabada's preparatory outing against Zimbabwe was vicious, the ball rising from a length at serious pace again and again. Marco Jansen swings it left-arm from a release point about 10ft off the ground. Keshav Maharaj is a vastly experienced left-arm spinner who the Australians in their World Cup semi-final treated with a respect bordering on hypnosis. The fourth link in that bowling chain could be several options, but none that maintains the proven quality of the other three. The Australians have an edge there, with Cummins likely to join Nathan Lyon, Mitchell Starc, and Josh Hazlewood yet again in a fully rounded attack. When Scott Boland took 10 Indian wickets in the Sydney Test last January, he looked the man, but Hazlewood recovered from injury to dominate a title-winning IPL season. Boland has been wildly successful in scant opportunities, but Hazlewood has 279 Test wickets, and last year took them at 13 runs apiece. Current Australian selection tends towards stability, so career-length pedigree should pip one of the best understudies the game has seen. Sign up to The Spin Subscribe to our cricket newsletter for our writers' thoughts on the biggest stories and a review of the week's action after newsletter promotion Likewise, the other selection questions feel all but decided. Sam Konstas is unlikely to be thrown in at Lord's as he was at the MCG, with Marnus Labuschagne the seasoned candidate to open instead. That means Cameron Green takes Labuschagne's slot at No 3, after a run-filled county cricket stint. With Green unable to be a fifth bowler due to injury, Beau Webster stays at six. Though if selectors trust the fitness of their four main bowlers, Josh Inglis should be considered for that spot, not just because of his recent century on debut in Sri Lanka, but his ability to problem-solve so many batting situations. Whatever the configuration, the players are excited, the press attentive, and the audience has committed. The Test decider is vindicated further each time it is played. It may be a strange time of year for an Antipodean, and a strange tournament structure for anybody involved. But the important thing now is the game: jumpers on, caps fitted, seats taken, rain cursed, sunshine welcomed. Channel changed. The footy can wait a week.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into the world of global news and events? Download our app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store