Andy Farrell issues mixed update on injured trio after British and Irish Lions land in Perth
Andy Farrell looks on during the Lions' warm-up versus Argentina
British and Irish Lions boss Andy Farrell has provided an injury update after his squad landed in Perth on Sunday following their long-haul flight from Dublin via Doha.
The 2025 tour began disappointingly on Friday with a 24-28 Aviva Stadium defeat to Argentina in the 1888 Cup.
Farrell has since jetted out to Australia with 37 of his squad of 38 – Blair Kinghorn’s departure had been delayed by the progress of Toulouse, his club, to next Saturday’s Top 14 final.
That match in Paris will take some hours after the Lions have played the first of the nine games they have scheduled Down Under, a clash with the Western Force.
It’s a fixture that could come too soon for the sidelined Irish pair, Jamison Gibson-Park and Hugo Keenan. Both sat out Leinster’s United Rugby Championship final win over the Bulls on June 14 before they joined the Lions squad, but there was a more positive update regarding Scotland’s Huw Jones.
Gibson-Park was originally selected in the Leinster XV for the Croke Park final, but he cried off on the morning of the decider due to a glute issue. Keenan, meanwhile, has been absent for longer with a calf problem, his most recent appearance coming in his club’s May 31 quarter-final win over the Scarlets.
“Huw Jones is up and running…”
As for Jones, he was plagued by an Achilles injury picked up during the Six Nations, and he hasn’t played since it flared up again in a May 17 league match with Glasgow at Leinster, but he is definitely in contention to feature for the Lions in Perth – unlike Gibson-Park and Keenan.
“We’ll see how they pull up in midweek,” said Farrell about his stricken Leinster duo. “Huw Jones is good. He has been training. He trained fully with us last week, so he is up and running.”
With no new injury concerns materialising from Friday’s 1888 Cup match, the Lions touched down in Australia following a 20-hour trip, and Farrell was keen to draw a line under the loss to Argentina, which he described in the immediate aftermath as “unacceptable”.
“We are here to build for what is going to be a fantastic Test series. We want to play some good rugby along the way,” he told Sky Sports. “We will find out more about each other as we keep on going.
“Of course we will analyse what went on against Argentina and why, but that is all part of the journey to understand where we need to go next. It’s great to be here, this is what it’s all about. We’re here for a good time. Hopefully, we can start this part of the tour off really well on Saturday.”
