{"id":235555,"date":"2025-07-03T19:51:14","date_gmt":"2025-07-03T19:51:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/235555\/"},"modified":"2025-07-03T19:51:14","modified_gmt":"2025-07-03T19:51:14","slug":"there-is-no-good-way-to-put-it-its-s-when-it-happens","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/235555\/","title":{"rendered":"‘There is no good way to put it. It\u2019s s*** when it happens’"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Andrew Porter is making up for lost time after scoring his first Lions<\/a> try in the 52\u201312 win over Queensland Reds, four years after suffering injury heartache that caused him to miss the South Africa<\/a> tour.<\/p>\n

Four years ago, Porter, 29, then a tighthead understudying Tadhg Furlong<\/a>, was a surprise inclusion in Warren Gatland\u2019s squad to face the Springboks in a tour played behind closed doors due to the COVID-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n

However, now a loosehead who has been part of two Grand Slam-winning campaigns, he suffered a toe injury while playing for Leinster<\/a> just before the squad was due to meet up and was replaced by Kyle Sinckler.<\/p>\n

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\"VideoBritish & Irish Lions in collaboration with the RugbyPass App<\/p>\n

World Rugby and the British & Irish Lions announce a groundbreaking strategic collaboration that will see the RugbyPass App become the designated home of the British & Irish Lions Tour to Australia in 2025. <\/p>\n

He admits that he feels for Scotland<\/a> tighthead Zander Fagerson<\/a>, who failed to recover from a calf injury in time to make the plane to Australia, and Wales<\/a> scrum-half Tomos Williams<\/a>, who was forced home with a hamstring injury.<\/p>\n

Porter says he spent a week feeling sorry for himself following his own disappointment but formed a plan to make sure he would be part of Andy Farrell\u2019s squad Down Under.<\/p>\n

Fixture<\/p>\n

British & Irish Lions<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Waratahs <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

British & Irish Lions <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\u201cFour years ago feels like ages ago, it feels like a lifetime ago now, but all the memories are pretty fresh. I remember getting the news that I wasn\u2019t going, and it was gutting. I had a week where I sulked about it.<\/p>\n

\u201cThen I got back on the horse, made a plan and made a goal to put myself in the best position to be selected for this tour and managed to make it on the plane this time injury-free.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo I am incredibly grateful to all my coaches, team-mates and family for getting me to where I am now. My wife, in particular, who is at home at the moment, is looking after our newborn and holding down the fort.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have put in a lot of work over the last four years to put myself in contention for selection. There is no good way to put it. It\u2019s s*** when it happens, but I guess it\u2019s just part and parcel of the game.<\/p>\n

\"AndrewAndrew Porter<\/a> in 2021 before being ruled out of the tour \u2013 PA<\/p>\n

\u201cI obviously feel for Zander (Fagerson) and Tomos (Williams), who went home early. He was an incredible addition to the squad. It\u2019s not nice to see it cut short, but obviously Ben White<\/a> is in here now,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Porter, who made his Lions debut off the bench in the win over the Western Force<\/a> before starting the win over the Reds, says he is happy with his form after adjusting to the new combinations that touring brings.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s difficult coming into a new team with different combinations and different structures, it\u2019s just getting your head around that. As a whole, I\u2019m happy enough with my form.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere were a few mistakes on my part, but you are not going to have a stellar game all of the time. There are going to be no easy games. You are playing top opposition down here and playing midweek and then at the weekend.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo it\u2019s all about getting your body ready and mentally ready as well. We are going to have to do better in terms of starting the game and not giving teams a foothold like that at the start,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Porter points out that the physical and mental battle of getting yourself ready to potentially play in two games a week is only half of what players need to cope with. They also need to adapt to being away from loved ones.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs players, we are adaptable. All the players here have been at the top of the game for years, and even the younger players feel that they are ahead of their years as well.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe lads have obviously got themselves to a physical and mental level to play on the Lions team. You have got on-field pressure, but you are also 16,500 km away from your family.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut look, it\u2019s only a phone call away. I\u2019ve got a lot of family down there that I haven\u2019t got to see in ages, but it\u2019s just the nature of the game.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Andrew Porter is making up for lost time after scoring his first Lions try in the 52\u201312 win…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":235556,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4102],"tags":[4151,79,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-235555","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-rugby","8":"tag-rugby","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114791047938009890","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/235555","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=235555"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/235555\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/235556"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=235555"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=235555"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=235555"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}