Andy Farrell shares Elliot Daly injury update and reflects on another ‘slow’ Lions start
Elliot Daly in action for the British and Irish Lions
British and Irish Lions boss Andy Farrell has given a brief update on the injury that forced Elliot Daly off the pitch in the second half of their win over the Queensland Reds on Wednesday.
The tourists secured a comfortable 52-12 victory in their second match on Australian soil, but that triumph could have come at a heavy cost as there is no clarity yet on the extent of the knock shipped by their versatile full-back.
Daly wasn’t meant to be involved in the Suncorp Stadium fixture. However, a bug left Hugo Keenan unavailable to run out at No.15, resulting in the England and Saracens player getting drafted in at a late stage.
The selection meant Daly was making his 11th consecutive appearance for the Lions, a run of unbroken involvement stretching back to the previous tour in South Africa in 2021. However, the back’s treasured versatility came unstuck against the Reds in the closing stages and there are now fears about his future availability on the Australian tour.
The Lions were 42-12 up when Daly went to tackle Reds’ skipper Jock Campbell with his team defending on the 22-metre line in the 62nd minute.
“Pretty sore… fingers crossed”
The pain of the resulting collision left him requiring immediate treatment and while he initially played on, he was soon replaced by Garry Ringrose, who slotted in on the wing with Tommy Freeman reverting to full-back.
Asked post-match for an update on the extent of the setback suffered by Daly, Farrell said: “He is pretty sore in there, we’re getting him an X-ray. It looks like he has taken a knock to his forearm there, so fingers crossed for him.”
Farrell will hope the X-ray won’t rule Daly out of the remainder of the tour, just days after the Lions confirmed that scrum-half Tomos Williams would have to go home due to the hamstring damage sustained against Western Force last Saturday. His place in the squad went to Ben White.
Switching to the assessment of his team’s eight-try win over the Reds, a performance in which they kept a Super Rugby opposition scoreless in the second half for the second successive time, Farrell suggested: “It was a bit of everything.
“I don’t think it was flowing from us, it was a little bit stop-start at times, but when it was on I thought we placed some really good stuff.
“I thought we got over a bit of a slow start, the Reds came out of the blocks pretty aggressively and dominated that first 10, 15 minutes, so that’s good for us, but we settled down well and played some good stuff.
“When the game was won, we got a little bit stop-start. Continuity of the game wasn’t quite what we wanted it to be, but we defended pretty well. At times, our collision work was pretty good, which gave us a full line, hence why we kept them out again in the second half.”
Queensland Reds v British & Irish Lions, AS IT HAPPENED: How the tourists won in Brisbane
The Lions now fly to Sydney on Thursday for Saturday’s match versus the Waratahs, and Farrell insisted he was still keeping an open mind about selection for the Test series against the Wallabies, which begins on July 19.
“Of course you have thoughts (on the Test side), but you need to be open-minded,” he said. “There is just Hugo and Blair (Kinghorn) that have not played now.
“Some lads today were desperate for another crack to get out there again, so a lot of lads have put their hands up really well and may the competition continue.
“This is where we are at with the tour – the games are coming thick and fast, and we are using those games to fast-track ourselves to the place we want to be, so there is constant learning there.”
