Joe McCarthy and Mack Hansen are likely to miss the British & Irish Lions’ second Test against Australia as they have run out of time to prove their fitness.
Both Irishmen have foot injuries. McCarthy, the lock, suffered his plantar fascia ligament issue in the first Test, which the Lions won 27-19 in Brisbane on Saturday. Hansen, the wing, hurt his foot the week before, in Adelaide against the Australia & New Zealand Invitational XV.
Neither has trained this week, so look to have lost their opportunity to prove their fitness. The Lions have one proper session left, on Thursday, after the coaches have finalised the team for the second Test.
Andy Farrell will send home some of the new Lions who were only called up for this First Nations & Pasifika match to protect the Test team, with their brief duties done. Ewan Ashman, Rory Sutherland and Gregor Brown are set to go home on Wednesday, having only arrived on Sunday.
Hansen hurt his foot playing against the Australia & New Zealand Invitational XV
MATT KING/GETTY IMAGES
Darcy Graham may also have to depart after he injured his foot only 15 minutes into his first Lions appearance, having scored a try. Farrell said he will assess the fitness of McCarthy and Hansen on Thursday, but their chances of making the Test team now look thin.
“Darcy is devastated but, to become a Lion and score a try as well, he should be unbelievably proud of himself,” Farrell said. “Joe hasn’t trained so far but with the nature of the week, which is a bit different, we will see how he is for Thursday. Mack’s progressing. Whether he’s progressing quick enough we’ll see towards the end of the week. Sometimes something flares up and it might take a day or two to settle down and then off they go, so we’ll stay open-minded about those two.”
Ollie Chessum is expected to replace McCarthy in the Test team for the match at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Saturday. That opens a spot on the bench for either another lock, or a back-row forward. Of the back-row options, Jac Morgan, the Welsh flanker, was taken off earliest against the First Nations & Pasifika XV in Melbourne on Tuesday.
Chessum is expected to replace McCarthy in the Test team for the match at the Melbourne Cricket Ground
TIMES PHOTOGRAPHER MARC ASPLAND
He departed after 50 minutes, while Henry Pollock and Josh van der Flier played the full 80. Marcus Smith, who replaced Fin Smith in the second half, only played seven minutes before going off for a head injury assessment. He stayed off for the remainder of the game, but Farrell confirmed the fly half passed his checks.
The head coach was pleased that the Lions found a way to win the Pasifika game but was concerned that they were lulled into playing loose rugby. They were 14-0 up before the hosts levelled the scores, but the touring side eventually won 24-19.
“I thought 14 points up and finding space everywhere, we started to play the game a little bit like an exhibition match and it was never going to be like that,” Farrell said. “I was pretty pleased with how we addressed that at half-time and started showing some proper intent in our game.”
Farrell described the second Test as the “biggest game of our lives”. “If you can’t get up for what’s coming, we’re all in the wrong place,” Farrell said. “To me, this is the biggest game of our lives, every one of us that’s part of our squad, so we’ll make sure that we address the week like that.”
Meanwhile Toutai Kefu, the coach of the First Nations & Pasifika team, criticised the Lions for flagging that Pete Samu, who had been pencilled in to start at No8, was ineligible for the game. The Lions said that the players picked had to have appeared in Super Rugby this year, but Samu was with Bordeaux-Bègles, so he was blocked despite the fact that he has now moved to the Waratahs.
“Pete was down to play No8 and had trained a few sessions with us, so to see the way he was displaced was pretty poor,” Kefu said. “The boys really felt for him. The Lions clearly respect us as they didn’t want him to play, so removing him would depower our team.”