Injured Wales forward Alun Wyn Jones could yet make a “miracle” recovery and join the British & Irish Lions for the Test series against the Springboks in South Africa, coach Warren Gatland has revealed.
Jones was injured in last week’s farewell Test against Japan at Murrayfield, the Lions skipper leaving the field after he hurt his left shoulder in a cleanout at the breakdown.
Jones was later revealed to have dislocated the shoulder and was ruled out of the tour, Gatland naming veteran Ireland scrum-half Conor Murray as the Lions new skipper.
But Gatland, who is overseeing his third consecutive Lions tour, has now confirmed that Jones could play some part in the Test series with doctors prepared to take a few risks with the treatment of his shoulder injury.
“Given his age, they think that they could potentially take a few shortcuts, more than you would do with a young player, if he picked up this type of injury at the start of his career,” Gatland said.
“So he’s kind of optimistic that a miracle may happen, and then he can get himself right.
“We’re just going to assess it and see how the next couple of weeks goes in terms of that. I think the specialist said, when he had to look at it, that it wasn’t quite as bad as he thought it would be.
“But not good enough, obviously, to come on tour to start with. And we needed a replacement, otherwise we would have put too much pressure on him and the other second rows.
“We’re going to monitor that and as we come towards the end of the tour. Or if we pick up an injury and he’s making amazing progress, something can happen — you never know.
“So it’s kind of one of those just wait and see situations.”
Meanwhile, the Lions forwards will be looking to put down a marker for their South African tour with a strong display when they play their first game in Johannesburg on Saturday, Englishman Jonny Hill said Thursday.
Hill was named in the team for the first match against the Johannesburg-based Lions at Ellis Park, where the touring side are anticipating being put through their paces by the local forwards.
It is the first of eight tour matches, each one expected to see the tourists submitted to a harsh physical examination in the scrums and mauls.
“We’ve spoken about sending a marker out at the set piece within the forwards and then wherever our marker is set, we can just keep building and building on it, right up until the test matches,” Hill told a news conference on Thursday.
“So, it’s hugely important. They are a country that have won huge games just from their set piece and it’s a thing in these games they are going to target, so we need to target it as well. It’s going to be an interesting battle.”
Hill said the Lions were confident they would not be bullied.
“I have no doubts whatsoever we have enough firepower to beat them,” he said.
The 27-year-old said he had already had a taste of the physical South African approach, playing for Exeter Chiefs in the Premiership.
“There is no secret to the way South Africans play the game. I play alongside three or four South African-born lads at Chiefs and I know how they are made up. So, we know what’s coming.”
The Lions can be a side known for their forward strength too.
“We need to take it out of the backs’ hands when it comes down to it,” Hill said.
“We want to give them as much space as possible and to do that we need to as dominant as possible in the pack.”