British and Irish Lions: Garry Ringrose out of first Test, Jamie George called up
England hooker Jamie George has received an SOS from the British & Irish Lions ahead of the first test against Australia next Saturday, as cover for Luke Cowan-Dickie, while centre Garry Ringrose has been ruled out of the fixture with concussion.
Cowan-Dickie took a blow to the head in the 48-0 win over a Australia-New Zealand invitational side at Adelaide Oval on Saturday, leading to the call-up of George just hours before he was due to start for England against Argentina in San Juan.
England have drafted in Theo Dan to start against the Argentines, with Curtis Langdon on the bench.
Ireland midfielder Ringrose, who scored a try in the 36-24 win over the ACT Brumbies on Wednesday, was replaced by Huw Jones in the Lions team on Saturday.
“Garry again had a concussion from last week, lingering signs of concussion so he had a headache and unfortunately he failed that,” head coach Andy Farrell told Sky Sports. “That’s very sad for Garry but he’ll be back within the rest of the series very shortly so that’s just the way the game goes.”
Centre Jamie Osborne was called up to the squad as additional training cover during the week.
Cowan-Dickie came off second-best in a tackle against big lock Lukhan Salakaia-Loto before half-time at Adelaide Oval and was carted from the pitch. Farrell said the England hooker was in good spirits but it looked like he had also suffered a concussion.
“He got up straight away as he got off the stretcher and he’s back to being his normal self,” Farrell said. “It’s unfortunate for him … so we’ll see what has to happen on the back of that.”
Farrell’s son Owen, the former England captain, did his chances of selection for the three-match series against the Wallabies no harm with a solid outing against the AUNZ XV after coming off the bench early in the second half to replace Jones.
Farrell had a hand in three of the Lions’ five second-half tries and attacked the AUNZ line with vigour in what was by far the Lions’ sharpest performance of the tour and a big improvement after their laboured win over the Brumbies.
They racked up three tries in the opening 21 minutes and defended well to shut out opponents featuring 14 Test players.
“I thought it was a good professional performance,” Farrell said. “I suppose when you play these type of games, the type of personnel that you’re coming up against, all sorts of things can happen.
“But I thought we played a nice, controlled game of rugby and didn’t really let them in the game or get the confidence going.”
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