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03 Jul, 2025
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British and Irish Lions 2025: Daly blow, Itoje's reminder and Test team taking shape
@Source: bbc.com
A statistic did the rounds during the week, inspired by rugby statinator @topofthemoonGW,, external that fairly knocked everyone to the ground. Elliot Daly had featured in 10 Lions matchday squads in a row before his run 'ended' in Brisbane against the Reds. Only it hadn't. Hugo Keenan dropped out through illness and Daly stepped back in to make it 11 in a row. It's a number that would have had the old boys saluting him, the Lions of the late 1800s and early 1900s who ran themselves into the ground in so many games that half of them lost about two inches off their trouser leg. We're now back to where we were this time last week, sweating on an injured Lion. Tomos Williams had to go home, cut down in peak form, and the hope is that Daly, playing fantastically, doesn't suffer the same fate after going off in the second half. As sporting heartbreak goes, it would be beyond cruel. What a strange situation at full-back now. Not a crisis by any means, but curious. Daly is nursing an injury to his arm, Keenan hasn't played since the end of May and Blair Kinghorn only just landed in the country the other day. Head coach Andy Farrell was asked if he was worried. "No, we've lots of full-backs," he said. And he's right. Kinghorn and Keenan will get up to speed soon enough and, in reserve, he has Marcus Smith (admittedly not everyone's cup of tea at 15, but an option) and the versatility of Huw Jones who revived his international career when playing well at full-back for half a season with Harlequins before returning to Glasgow. Everybody wants good news on Daly, but if it's bad news there is a cavalry coming over the hill in the shape of Kinghorn and Keenan and a cast of others. Meanwhile, it might be an idea to alert Tom Jordan, in New Zealand with Scotland, just in case.
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