Murray Kinsella reports from Auckland
SEAN O’BRIEN WILL undergo a scan on his shoulder injury after being replaced at half time of the Lions’ 15-15 draw with the All Blacks at Eden Park.
The Ireland openside suffered the injury late on in the opening half after All Blacks flanker Jerome Kaino hammered into him at a ruck.
Though O’Brien played on until the break, he did not return thereafter, with CJ Stander impressing off the bench in his place.
The Leinster back row will be hopeful the scan comes back positively, having enjoyed such an excellent run of form free of injuries on this Lions tour.
“I spoke to him just before coming into the press conference,” said Lions boss Warren Gatland after the draw at Eden Park. “He said it’s a little bit better than it was at half time.
We tested him at half time and he just didn’t have any power. He said he didn’t have any power for the last five or six minutes of the half, he had no power in his left shoulder.
“He’s had an operation on there before, so we’ll just see how he turns up tomorrow. Hopefully, he hasn’t had too much to drink. And we’ll probably look to get him scanned and see. I think he’s got a piece of his hip in there, or something like they, they replaced some bone in the past. But he said it has improved since half time.”
Leinster will be waiting anxiously on an update on O’Brien, having already seen Robbie Henshaw return from the Lions tour after tearing his pectoral muscle clean off the bone.
Henshaw will be out until October, and the eastern province will be hoping O’Brien is not now facing a similar spell on the sidelines.
Meanwhile, Gatland said that Alun Wyn Jones undertook and passed a Head Injury Assessment before returning to the field of play in the second half.
The Welsh lock look groggy after taking a blow to the head in the tackle that saw Kaino sin binned, and he was replaced by Courtney Lawes. However, Jones later came back onto the pitch when Sam Warburton departed for his HIA.
“I think with the medics, any clash to the head with a player, they’re the ones who are saying they want to check the player for a HIA,” said Gatland.
That’s right and proper – safety first and making sure the players are fine. The HIA is being done by independent doctors, not being done by our own doctors. The independent doctors are then clearing the players to go back on the field.”
Warburton himself confirmed that he had passed his own HIA before returning to the pitch for the dramatic finale.
“With that, it’s all precautionary,” said the Lions captain. “As soon as they see anybody take a little bit longer than usual to get up off the ground, they check you out straight away just to be safe rather than sorry.
“I passed it, easily. I think I got 100% and felt absolutely fine to go back on the field to play and I still feel fine now.”
The42 is on Instagram! Tap the button below on your phone to follow us!
