IRELAND CENTRE GARRY Ringrose sat out Lions training in Adelaide today along with England blindside/second row Ollie Chessum.
Ringrose and Chessum both played in Wednesday’s win over the Brumbies and they’re not involved in tomorrow’s clash with the AUNZ Invitational XV at the Adelaide Bowl.
However, the rest of the wider Lions squad were at training this afternoon.
“Ollie would have picked up a couple of bumps, I think, and probably Ringer as well,” said Lions assistant coach Simon Easterby.
“When we’ve got probably 35 out on the pitch, it’s important that if guys have got a few niggles or bumps, then we’ll just probably leave them off.
“We don’t need a full 35 out on the pitch sometimes, or 38 at this point. It’s just a case of managing a few players with the short turnaround that we’ve had from this game to this training session.”
Scotland fullback Blair Kinghorn wasn’t part of the session either, having suffered a knee sprain on Wednesday against the Brumbies.
The Lions were relieved that a scan on the knee “showed up way more positive than we’d hoped originally,” with Kinghorn aiming to get back training next week. However, Easterby admitted that Kinghorn was a doubt for the first Test against the Wallabies.
Ireland’s Jamie Osborne will arrive in Australia tomorrow to join the squad as cover for Kinghorn, with Easterby and co. hoping to see the 24-year-old impress and put his hand up for a Lions debut.
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“Jamie played really well for Ireland against Georgia [last weekend],” said Easterby.
“He’s a versatile player as well. He can play in the midfield, he can play anywhere in the back three as well. So he has that versatility, which is crucial on a Lions tour.
“Certainly, he’ll be coming in to take part in training and when he does that, and then if something happens further down the line in the next couple of weeks, we know we’ve got a really good player on our hands and he has the opportunity then to impress and potentially get an opportunity.”
Easterby said the Lions coaches discussed other players for a possible call-up, including Scotland’s Tom Jordan, and rejected the suggestion that Osborne being so familiar with the large Leinster and Ireland contingent in the squad was in his favour.
“It’s certainly not something that we have thought about,” said Easterby. “But those partnerships, they help obviously. But you can see some really good partnerships being built from players from different clubs and different players from different countries.
“Obviously, certain things in a short space of time will help. But I don’t think anyone has ever considered bringing in Jamie because he is a Leinster player or an Ireland player. He is just the right player.”
Meanwhile, Wallabies boss Joe Schmidt said he expects the Lions to be a “different beast” when the first Test rolls around in Brisbane.
Andy Farrell’s tourists have yet to deliver a complete performance on Australian soil, but Schmidt isn’t reading too much into that.
“During the tour, if you go to the emotional and physical well every four or five days throughout the tour, I do think you risk diluting your ability to hit the top level,” said Schmidt in Brisbane today after naming his 36-man squad to face the Lions.
“I’ve coached with Andy for enough years, he’ll have them simmering at the moment. But I have no doubt that come Saturday week, they’ll be at the boil.”
Schmidt has handed 35-year-old out-half James O’Connor a recall to the Wallabies squad following an injury to first-choice playmaker Noah Lolesio last weekend against Fiji.
Lolesio will miss the Lions series, with Schmidt calling on O’Connor after he helped the Crusaders to win the Super Rugby title, playing a bench role for Rob Penney’s side.
O’Connor, who started at number 10 for the Wallabies the last time the Lions visited in 2013, hasn’t played for Australia for three years but Schmidt expects him to get up to speed quickly as he offers another option along with Ben Donaldson and Tom Lynagh.
Schmidt with the Wallabies in Brisbane today. Alamy Stock Photo
Alamy Stock Photo
“I’ve been talking to James for a long time, right through the Super Rugby season, so it’s not that far away from where we started,” said Schmidt.
“Obviously, we started with Noah and with his injury, we needed to replace him. Our 10s are young in experience anyway.
“I talked to Tom Lynagh a little bit around the influence he had on him and his development, and that was really positive. I talked to David Havili, who is obviously in with the AUNZ team at the moment.
“I’ve coached Davey and have a lot of time for his opinion, and he said that James was a real help with the two young 10 at the Crusaders, so they were positives.
“And, at the same time, James in his own right had played pretty solidly coming on in the back end of games.”
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Ringrose sits out Lions training as Schmidt calls on JOC
IRELAND CENTRE GARRY Ringrose sat out Lions training in Adelaide today along with England blindside/second row Ollie Chessum.
Ringrose and Chessum both played in Wednesday’s win over the Brumbies and they’re not involved in tomorrow’s clash with the AUNZ Invitational XV at the Adelaide Bowl.
However, the rest of the wider Lions squad were at training this afternoon.
“Ollie would have picked up a couple of bumps, I think, and probably Ringer as well,” said Lions assistant coach Simon Easterby.
“When we’ve got probably 35 out on the pitch, it’s important that if guys have got a few niggles or bumps, then we’ll just probably leave them off.
“We don’t need a full 35 out on the pitch sometimes, or 38 at this point. It’s just a case of managing a few players with the short turnaround that we’ve had from this game to this training session.”
Scotland fullback Blair Kinghorn wasn’t part of the session either, having suffered a knee sprain on Wednesday against the Brumbies.
The Lions were relieved that a scan on the knee “showed up way more positive than we’d hoped originally,” with Kinghorn aiming to get back training next week. However, Easterby admitted that Kinghorn was a doubt for the first Test against the Wallabies.
Ireland’s Jamie Osborne will arrive in Australia tomorrow to join the squad as cover for Kinghorn, with Easterby and co. hoping to see the 24-year-old impress and put his hand up for a Lions debut.
“Jamie played really well for Ireland against Georgia [last weekend],” said Easterby.
“He’s a versatile player as well. He can play in the midfield, he can play anywhere in the back three as well. So he has that versatility, which is crucial on a Lions tour.
“Certainly, he’ll be coming in to take part in training and when he does that, and then if something happens further down the line in the next couple of weeks, we know we’ve got a really good player on our hands and he has the opportunity then to impress and potentially get an opportunity.”
Easterby said the Lions coaches discussed other players for a possible call-up, including Scotland’s Tom Jordan, and rejected the suggestion that Osborne being so familiar with the large Leinster and Ireland contingent in the squad was in his favour.
“It’s certainly not something that we have thought about,” said Easterby. “But those partnerships, they help obviously. But you can see some really good partnerships being built from players from different clubs and different players from different countries.
“Obviously, certain things in a short space of time will help. But I don’t think anyone has ever considered bringing in Jamie because he is a Leinster player or an Ireland player. He is just the right player.”
Meanwhile, Wallabies boss Joe Schmidt said he expects the Lions to be a “different beast” when the first Test rolls around in Brisbane.
Andy Farrell’s tourists have yet to deliver a complete performance on Australian soil, but Schmidt isn’t reading too much into that.
“During the tour, if you go to the emotional and physical well every four or five days throughout the tour, I do think you risk diluting your ability to hit the top level,” said Schmidt in Brisbane today after naming his 36-man squad to face the Lions.
“I’ve coached with Andy for enough years, he’ll have them simmering at the moment. But I have no doubt that come Saturday week, they’ll be at the boil.”
Schmidt has handed 35-year-old out-half James O’Connor a recall to the Wallabies squad following an injury to first-choice playmaker Noah Lolesio last weekend against Fiji.
Lolesio will miss the Lions series, with Schmidt calling on O’Connor after he helped the Crusaders to win the Super Rugby title, playing a bench role for Rob Penney’s side.
O’Connor, who started at number 10 for the Wallabies the last time the Lions visited in 2013, hasn’t played for Australia for three years but Schmidt expects him to get up to speed quickly as he offers another option along with Ben Donaldson and Tom Lynagh.
“I’ve been talking to James for a long time, right through the Super Rugby season, so it’s not that far away from where we started,” said Schmidt.
“Obviously, we started with Noah and with his injury, we needed to replace him. Our 10s are young in experience anyway.
“I talked to Tom Lynagh a little bit around the influence he had on him and his development, and that was really positive. I talked to David Havili, who is obviously in with the AUNZ team at the moment.
“I’ve coached Davey and have a lot of time for his opinion, and he said that James was a real help with the two young 10 at the Crusaders, so they were positives.
“And, at the same time, James in his own right had played pretty solidly coming on in the back end of games.”
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