Blair Kinghorn’s Lions tour is not over and he could still feature in the first Test against the Wallabies next Saturday despite Jamie Osborne being called up as cover.

Scotland full-back Kinghorn felt something in his knee early on against the Brumbies and was withdrawn after 24 minutes in Canberra.

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Scans on his knee revealed more “positive news” than was initially feared and British & Irish Lions defence coach Simon Easterby confirmed he has suffered a “sprained knee”.

Speaking after the Lions’ captain’s run at the Adelaide Oval, Easterby said: “At the moment, sprained knee is what we are hearing.

“Obviously it didn’t look great against the Brumbies. It was the right thing to do to pull him off. But actually the scan has shown up way more positive than we hoped originally.

“We are hopeful he can take some part in next week but it’s a waiting game on terms of whether he’s available for the first Test.”

Kinghorn injury update

Pushed on whether Kinghorn has a realistic chance of lining up against the Wallabies in Brisbane next week, Easterby added: “Not being a medical person, I’m not sure exactly the time frames but it will be one of those things we just have to take day by day.”

The Lions announced on Monday that Irish back Osborne would join the squad ahead of the first Test. Osborne impressed for Ireland against Georgia under interim boss Paul O’Connell last weekend and the 23-year-old will become the 13th Leinster player in the squad.

He has been in Portugal with the national side and was due to start at 13 on Saturday but the versatile outside back will instead jet down under. He will arrive in Brisbane on Saturday, ahead of the rest of the squad who are in Adelaide for the AUNZ XV fixture before arriving on Sunday in Queensland.

Easterby admitted Scotland’s Tom Jordan – who plays against Fiji in Suva tomorrow – was one of the players discussed by the coaches but they settled on Osborne being the right man. He confirmed that initially he will come in as training cover but he is set to play some part in the remainder of the tour and will have a full week’s training in the lead-up to the first Test.

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