{"id":251022,"date":"2025-07-09T14:55:11","date_gmt":"2025-07-09T14:55:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/251022\/"},"modified":"2025-07-09T14:55:11","modified_gmt":"2025-07-09T14:55:11","slug":"five-potential-lions-replacements-for-blair-kinghorn-if-he-is-ruled-out","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/251022\/","title":{"rendered":"Five potential Lions replacements for Blair Kinghorn if he is ruled out"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Things did not look good for Blair Kinghorn<\/a> when he left the field with a knee injury in the first half of the British & Irish Lions\u2019 36-24 victory over the Brumbies<\/a> on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

With Elliot Daly<\/a> already ruled out, and fly-half Owen Farrell<\/a> called up as his replacement, the Lions<\/a> are looking threadbare in the full-back department, with Hugo Keenan<\/a> the only out-and-out full-back remaining in the squad.<\/p>\n

Marcus Smith can play there, as can Tommy Freeman<\/a> and Mack Hansen<\/a>, but Andy Farrell will now be looking for a recognised full-back as a replacement if Kinghorn is potentially ruled out of the rest of the tour.<\/p>\n

Here are four options he should look at:<\/p>\n

Fixture<\/p>\n

British & Irish Lions<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

AUNZ XV <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

British & Irish Lions <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Blair Murray
<\/strong>Much in the same way Jac Morgan<\/a> and Tomos Williams<\/a> (until his injury) have thrived on this tour playing in sides that are on top, their compatriot Blair Murray<\/a> would surely relish the opportunity of being part of a team on the front foot.<\/p>\n

One of Wales\u2019 best performers during the Six Nations<\/a> despite their poor form, the Scarlets<\/a> full-back will provide expertise in that role, as well as versatility.<\/p>\n

Freddie Steward
<\/strong>Seeing as Leicester<\/a> Tigers\u2019 Freddie Steward<\/a> is no longer England\u2019s starting full-back when everyone is fit, this may seem like a strange call, but he is fresh from a try-scoring display against Argentina, where his passing looked slicker than ever.<\/p>\n

Farrell will also know the 37-cap Englishman provides world-class, if not world-best, high ball catching, which may be decisive come the Test series, particularly with the likes of Joseph Sua\u2019ali\u2019i<\/a> in the Wallabies team.<\/p>\n

Jamie Osborne <\/strong>
Much like Daly, Leinster\u2019s Osborne provides versatility across the backline, and is looked on favourably by his Ireland<\/a> coach Farrell.<\/p>\n

But the call-up of Owen Farrell suggests the Lions desperately crave experience, and that is something the 23-year-old lacks with only eight caps to his name. With that said, one of those was a start at full-back in a victory over world champions South Africa<\/a> in Durban in 2024.<\/p>\n

Darcy Graham<\/strong>
Kinghorn\u2019s countryman Graham was maybe the most unlucky back-three player to miss out on the original Lions squad, and would be a worthy selection.<\/p>\n

Though Scotland\u2019s second-highest try scorer is capable of playing at full-back, like a few members of the current Lions squad, it is not his favoured position, and that may work against him.<\/p>\n

Tom Jordan
<\/strong>Another Swiss Army Knife of a back, Bristol Bears-bound Jordan can provide plenty of versatility in the backline, covering full-back, fly-half and the centres.<\/p>\n

But, like Graham,\u00a0 he is not a specialist full-back when the Lions are in need of one.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Things did not look good for Blair Kinghorn when he left the field with a knee injury in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":251023,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4102],"tags":[4151,79,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-251022","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\/114823857996411067","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/251022","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=251022"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/251022\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/251023"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=251022"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=251022"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=251022"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}