Rugby news, lions tour,
irish rugby, tommy bowe
Tommy Bowe is unlikely to be
available for Lions first test
All will be revealed on
Thursday, when both Test teams will be announced, but as with the Wallabies
holding out the hope of Digby Ioane making a surprise recovery from his knee
operation in time for Saturday’s game in Brisbane, similarly the Lions’ Dr
James Robson yesterday declined to entirely rule out George North, Tommy Bowe
or Jamie Roberts, although his views about the Welsh winger being ready for the
fray seem to be far too optimistic.
Bowe, with a hand splint,
was back running yesterday.
“He is doing very well. He
will be re-assessed by the hand surgeon later this week,” said Robson, who
added that “the IRB guidelines are very clear as to use of various (protective)
materials. We will not allow Tommy Bowe to play unless we feel medically, he is
able to.
“He had the fracture stabilised
and we will give him a couple of weeks to decide. It is difficult, we give you
a snapshot which is from when I last saw the players. Tommy is confounding us.
He has good grip strength back and is very keen to go. The problem we might
have with Tommy is reining him in a bit.”
As for North, who also
resumed running yesterday, Robson said “an accurate assessment on his
availability for selection will take place on Wednesday.
“At the moment I think he is
doing very well and has a great chance of being fit for this week. We wouldn’t
allow him to play if there was any significant risk. We will only return him to
the coaches for selection if we are confident medically he is fine.
“Jamie Roberts is likely to
be not available. Bowe is highly unlikely and we never were really targeting
this.”
As for Brian O’Driscoll, who
strained his groin in the win over Combined Country last Tuesday, Robson said:
“He is very well. There is no doubt as we get older you have to conserve your
energies for the things that matter.
“There are a couple of guys
who I have said to Warren they should not be training today. They tend to be
older members of the squad.
“There is no doubt about
Brian for Saturday unless he falls over this afternoon.”