Scotland's Zander Fagerson has pulled out of the British & Irish Lions squad with injury and is replaced by Finlay Bealham
Scottish tight-head prop Zander Fagerson has been ruled out of the British & Irish Lions tour to Australia with Ireland’s Finlay Bealham called up as replacement.
The Lions confirmed on that the Glasgow Warriors prop had pulled out of the tour with a calf injury and that Connacht’s Bealham would replace him.
The announcement came ahead of the squad’s first training camp in Portugal. As well as Bealham, it was confirmed that Sale Sharks and England prop Asher Opoku-Fordjour and two-time Lion Jamie George would also travel to Portugal to train with the squad.
Opoku-Fordjour and George will join the Lions’ first training camp in Portugal to offer cover in positions head coach Andy Farrell is currently light on.
Read more: The full squad list for the British & Irish Lions tour to Australia
Lions injury cover
It was reported over the weekend that Fagerson was struggling with injury alongside Leinster tight-head Tadhg Furlong. Will Stuart, the third selected tight-head, remains at his club Bath ahead of the Premiership final on Saturday 14 June.
Likewise, Leinster hookers Dan Sheehan and Ronan Kelleher are yet to join the squad as both will be playing in this weekend’s URC final against the Bulls. This saw Sale’s Luke Cowan-Dickie as the only available hooker training with the squad.
On Fagerson’s injury, Farrell said: “It’s tough on Zander to miss out so close to the Tour, but now Finlay gets an opportunity to come in and add to the group. This is unfortunately part and parcel of the game, so we always have to be prepared for that.
“But it’s great to be finally at the stage where we can get onto the training ground and get to work with these players.
The Lions first game will be against Argentina at the Aviva Stadium, Dublin on Friday 20 June. With squad players from Bath, Leicester Tigers and Leinster unable to join the squad until the week of the fixture due to domestic league finals, it is expected that Farrell will have to select players for the game that initially missed out on selection.
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