I must be talking about a Welshman, you imagine. Correct:
British & Irish Lions Tour Manager, Gerald Davies, and Head Coach Ian McGeechan, tonight announced that Ospreys and Wales backrow forward Ryan Jones has been called into the Lions’ squad for the remainder of the tour. He will replace Ireland’s Stephen Ferris.
Commenting on the call up, Ian McGeechan said, “Ryan Jones has been called up to replace Stephen Ferris who unfortunately sustained a knee injury during Monday afternoon’s training. He twisted his right knee in a training drill and following a medical assessment it was decided that he should undergo a scan to determine the extent of the injury.”
“He 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 backrow.”
“Ryan is on the standby reserve list and of course 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 of course 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 thee matches against the All Blacks.”
Ryan Jones will arrive in South Africa on Thursday 11th June and will meet up with the squad in Cape Town.
It’s unlucky for Ferris who has been playing pretty well and was definitely in with a shout of the test spot against Tom Croft, who should now be a shoo-in if he plays well tomorrow.
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I can see Ryan Jones making the test side. Maybe not the first test but I’m sure he won’t be lacking in motivation and at his best he’s head and shoulders above Heaslip et al.