Stephen Ferris, the Ireland back-row forward, has been ruled out of the Lions tour of South Africa with a knee injury and Wales’s Ryan Jones has been called up as his replacement.
The loss of Ferris, who damaged ligaments in his right knee during training on Monday, is a serious blow to the Lions, because the Ulster flanker had been in exceptional form and with tries against the Golden Lions and the Cheetahs had put himself in contention for a starting spot in the Test side.
Ian McGeechan, the Lions head coach, said: “He [Ferris] had the scan on Tuesday morning that showed he had a grade two tear to his medial collateral ligament.
“This usually requires a four to six-week recovery period and is severe enough to mean he will miss the rest of the tour.Therefore, with six matches left on tour after Wednesday’s match against the Sharks, we believe we need to fly out a replacement as cover for the back-row.
“Ryan is on the stand-by reserve list and has been playing for Wales over the last few weeks in the USA and Canada. He will fit right in as he knows a lot of the players and he was a Lions replacement on the 2005 tour to New Zealand.
“In fact, on that tour he showed how competitive he is as an individual by forcing his way into the Test side for all three matches against the All Blacks.”
The Lions also have an injury concern over Leigh Halfpenny, the Cardiff Blues wing, who has had a scan after suffering a recurrence of the thigh strain that kept him at home for the first ten days of the tour.
Halfpenny would not likely have figured in the Lions' first-choice starting line-up and has been withdrawn from Wednesday night’s match against the Natal Sharks at ABSA Stadium. At this stage there is no suggestion he will leave the touring party.
Source:The times
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