Lions suffer significant injury setback after Zander Fagerson ruled out of tour
Scotland tighthead Zander Fagerson has been ruled out of the entire British and Irish Lions tour to Australia, piling further pressure onto Andy Farrell's front-row reserves.
Question marks still hover over the fitness of Ireland stalwart Tadhg Furlong and with England's Will Stuart preparing to play in this weekend's Premiership final with Bath, the Lions cohort of props could look very different by the time the first tour match is played in Perth on June 28.
Ireland's Finlay Bealham has been called into the squad, with Asher Opoku-Fordjour also training with the squad ahead of the Lions first game a week on Friday against Argentina. According to reports from the Irish Independent, Furlong could also be ruled out of the tour entirely.
Stuart will be in a strong position for the Test side given his form and fitness situation, should he pulled through the English club showcase on Saturday.
However, there is precedent for late call-ups to start in the front row for the Test series – as loosehead Alex Corbisiero did during the last tour of Australia, in 2013. The depth chart for head coach Andy Farrell and his assistants will now be tested, with all eyes on the finals to be played this weekend.
Lions coach Andy Farrell said: '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. 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.'
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