{"id":85699,"date":"2025-05-08T22:03:13","date_gmt":"2025-05-08T22:03:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/85699\/"},"modified":"2025-05-08T22:03:13","modified_gmt":"2025-05-08T22:03:13","slug":"caelan-doris-devastated-to-miss-out-through-injury-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/85699\/","title":{"rendered":"Caelan Doris \u2018devastated\u2019 to miss out through injury \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Andy Farrell <\/a>has said that Caelan Doris is \u201cdevastated\u201d to miss out on a place in the British and Irish Lions squad after injury ruled him out of this summer\u2019s tour. <\/p>\n

Doris, who Farrell previously named Ireland captain, was one of the favourites to take up a similar job with the Lions only for a shoulder injury sustained last weekend to rule him out of contention. <\/p>\n

While no announcement has come from Leinster on how long Doris will be on the sidelines having suffered the problem during the Champions Cup semi-final defeat to Northampton, the backrow was not named in Farrell\u2019s 38-strong group on Thursday, indicating a lengthy upcoming absence. He was scheduled to undergo surgery earlier this week. <\/p>\n

England lock Maro Itoje was confirmed as the captain at an event in London on Thursday afternoon. <\/p>\n

\u201cI have [spoken to him],\u201d said Farrell, when asked about the 27-year-old Doris. \u201cYou can imagine he\u2019s devastated. He would have definitely been in the mix, he\u2019s such an experienced player and leader.\u201d<\/p>\n

Four years ago Doris was seen as an outside bet to tour South Africa with the Lions having made his Ireland debut a year earlier. However, concussion issues ruled him out of the entire Six Nations, scuppering his chances to impress.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s devastating for people like that,\u201d said Farrell. \u201cIt\u2019s always a constant in every single tour. Sport can be cruel sometimes. Caelan will be back bigger and stronger.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Ireland'sIreland’s Caelan Doris and head coach Andy Farrell. Photograph: Dan Sheridan <\/p>\n

Farrell said he made his final decision on naming Maro Itoje captain on Monday night, after Doris suffered his injury, but wouldn\u2019t be drawn on if the decision was a two-horse race.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe speak about everyone that can captain the side, leaders that are within the group in general. What I like to do is have the discussions but leave it open enough and leave it long enough for us to have a good think, debate all sorts of issues that could arise.\u201d<\/p>\n

While 15 Irish players were named, more than the 14 originally picked in 2009 when Ireland last reached this echelon of Lion\u2019s representation, one name missing was that of outhalf Sam Prendergast. Farrell previously elevated the Leinster man to start in the Ireland 10 jersey towards the back end of last year\u2019s November internationals, but his name was not called on Thursday. <\/p>\n

Finn Russell, Fin Smith and Marcus Smith are the three outhalves who instead earned their ticket to Australia. <\/p>\n

\u201cIn discussions throughout the process,\u201d said Farrell of Prendergast. \u201cSam is competing with Finn and Fin, I think those two guys are able to take the team forward but there\u2019s no doubt that Sam is 100 per cent in our thoughts going forward.\u201d <\/p>\n

While Saturday\u2019s game between Leinster and Northampton was influential in how it ruled Doris out of contention, Farrell played down its significance when weighing up other selection decisions. Henry Pollock will tour having broken on to the scene only a few months ago in senior rugby, but Farrell said he didn\u2019t need to be convinced by the back row\u2019s display in the Aviva Stadium.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wouldn\u2019t say certain, I wouldn\u2019t say I needed convincing neither,\u201d he said. \u201cI watched him a couple of times live, I like what I see. With all top players he\u2019s always trying to make a difference. There\u2019s an energy, there\u2019s a bounce about him, trying to make a difference. That\u2019s what you\u2019re searching for. That\u2019s what I like seeing within his game. <\/p>\n

\u201cOf course there\u2019s credit in the bank from a lot of people as well,\u201d said Farrell of his selection as a whole. \u201cKnowing where people are as far as injuries are concerned, when they\u2019re coming back. Form certainly is part of the whole mix but it\u2019s not necessarily the be all and end all. We need to be balanced about the whole thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"JohnnyJohnny Sexton with Andy Farrell. Photograph: Dan Sheridan\/Inpho <\/p>\n

Clarity has also been offered on Johnny Sexton\u2019s role, with the former Ireland outhalf belatedly announced as a kicking coach for the tour. Farrell compared Sexton\u2019s responsibilities to that of Neil Jenkins, the former Wales outhalf who has carried the kicking tee on many recent Lions trips. <\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s bringing himself, that\u2019s what he\u2019s bringing,\u201d said Farrell of Sexton. \u201cAll the stuff that goes with that. His remit, his role and responsibility…Along with Neil Jenkins, who\u2019s been fantastic at that on all the tours he\u2019s been on, it\u2019s not just being about the kicking. We lean on that experience, that knowledge, why wouldn\u2019t we take that?\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Andy Farrell has said that Caelan Doris is \u201cdevastated\u201d to miss out on a place in the British…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":85700,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4102],"tags":[6162,35987,41254,4210,4151,7616,79,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-85699","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-rugby","8":"tag-andy-farrell","9":"tag-caelan-doris","10":"tag-johnny-sexton","11":"tag-lions-tour","12":"tag-rugby","13":"tag-sam-prendergast","14":"tag-sports","15":"tag-uk","16":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114474477438665862","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85699","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=85699"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85699\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/85700"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=85699"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=85699"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=85699"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}