British & Irish Lions boss Andy Farrell admits that Garry Ringrose and Blair Kinghorn could feature in Tuesday’s final midweek game against the First Nations & Pasifika XV at Marvel Stadium in Melbourne.
Leinster and Ireland outside centre Ringrose, and Toulouse and Scotland full-back Kinghorn missed the first Test win over Australia, but he said that both were making good progress and could play in Melbourne.
Farrell says that he won’t start thinking about next weekend’s second Test until after the game against the invitational side coached by former Wallabies No.8 Toutai Kefu.
He points out that a week of training and the game against First Nations & Pasifika XV will give them more time to work on kinks in their game, which are improving with every training session and game they play.
Fixture
British & Irish Lions
First Nations & Pasifika XV
British & Irish Lions
“We care about the squad and nothing but the squad, and that is how it has been the whole time. We have never separated once. We have all been in everything together.
“So we will enjoy this victory, and we travel to Melbourne, and we will name a side internally just before dinner, and then everyone on Monday will roll into making sure that team is prepared during an extended captain’s run.
“You could see the difference in our game. I’ve said all along that the hardest thing about any team coming together is gelling in attack because it takes a lot of cohesion for that to happen.
“So we are trying to find out about ourselves in that regard. As far as the game control and how you play Test matches, that is something we have always been working on in the background and conscious of.
“That’s a given for what Test match rugby should be all about and how you respect the game. But now the whole group’s focus moves to Tuesday night, and that’s all that matters at this moment in time,” he said.