A scrum half injury cloud is hanging over the British and Irish Lions’ first tour win, leaving head coach Andy Farrell with an obvious decision to make.
The Lions sealed their first victory of the summer in their first game Down Under in a commanding 54-7 win over Western Force, but the game wasn’t without its headaches.
Dan Sheehan scored the Lions’ first try inside one minute of play as Farrell’s men turned on the styleGetty But the head coach would have looked on nervously at the sight of Williams hobbling off with an injuryGettyWelsh scrum half and Premiership player of the season Tomos Williams limped off the field of play clutching his hamstring in what could be a devastating blow to his Lions tour.
Williams produced a masterful performance before injuring himself while scoring a try in the 46th minute.
He was replaced by England’s Alex Mitchell, the only scrum half in the squad free from fitness worries just one game into the nine match tour.
Mitchell helped the Lions cruise to an eight try win in Perth, in a perfect response to last week’s disappointing defeat to Argentina in Dublin.
But with Mitchell currently the only scrum half fit ahead of a run of three more warm-up games in eight days, Farrell needs more depth.
And he should look to Ben White as emergency cover, given he’s less than a four hour flight from Brisbane – where the Lions take on the Wallabies in the first Test on July 19.
With Scotland’s ongoing summer tour taking place in New Zealand, White, who many thought deserved to be included in Farrell’s original 38-man squad, is waiting in the wings in Auckland and is currently closer to Brisbane than the Lions squad are.
White has been in hot form over the last year for Scotland and French giants Toulon, the Top 14 side.
And bringing in the Scottish star as scrum half injury cover would do Farrell’s squad no harm – it might even elevate the quality of the group as he would link up again with his Scottish half back partner Finn Russell.
Jamison Gibson-Park, favourite to start at scrum half in the Test series against the Wallabies, is yet to feature for the Lions following a glute strain picked up in pre-tour training.
Could Scotland star White get a late call-up for the Lions tour? He shouldGettyBut Lions head coach Andy Farrell is adamant that Gibson-Park will be fit to play against the Queensland Reds in Brisbane on Tuesday, but he was reluctant to give a clear update on Williams and a possible injury replacement.
He said: “Jamison [Gibson-Park] is fit and ready to go and has been training for the best part of the week. We’re happy with that.
“You don’t know [Tomos Williams’ injury diagnosis] until you know and we’ll only know in the morning anyway. I don’t know the timings of that just yet with the flights etc, but you have to let these things settle down and see what the outcome is, giving it a bit of space.
“[Tomos] was playing well, I’m sure there’s a little bit of concern there, you can only deal with the here and now, so fingers crossed.
“He obviously went off holding his hamstring, there was plenty of cramp last week, let’s hope it was one of those.
“There’s always something that’s going to happen and you’re not quite sure about – that’s the nature of the tour.”
Farrell has a decision to make after some early injuries in his Lions squadGettyThe Lions on talkSPORT
talkSPORT has all of the British and Irish Lions matches live across the network. Eddie Jones is among the star-studded line-up leading the coverage Down Under.
June 20, Dublin: Lions vs Argentina
June 28, Perth: Lions vs Western Force
July 2, Brisbane: Lions vs Queensland Reds
July 5, Sydney: Lions vs New South Wales Waratahs
July 9, Canberra: Lions vs ACT Brumbies
July 12, Adelaide: Lions v ANZAC XV
July 12, Brisbane: Lions v Wallabies
July 22, Melbourne: Lions v First Nations and Pasifika XV
July 26, Melbourne: Lions v Wallabies
August 2, Sydney: Lions v Wallabies
To no surprise, Farrell was hit with questions about White’s helpful geographical position but the Lions head coach didn’t give much away: “You’re trying to put words in my mouth.
“Well we need to talk about that and assess that and make the right call for the group.”
On Sunday morning the Lions will fly to Brisbane in preparation for their highly anticipated second tour match against the Queensland Reds on Wednesday, live on talkSPORT.
As we await a critical injury update on Williams, Ben White will be itching to prove his quality as a British and Irish Lion.
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