Rugby digest

Halfpenny to miss rest of tour because of thigh injury - LIONS TOUR:Welsh wing Leigh Halfpenny will miss the remainder of the British and Irish Lions tour of South Africa because of a thigh injury.

The 20-year-old joined the tour last week after being left behind to recover from an injury to his thigh when the Lions left for South Africa on May 24th. However, the winger strained his thigh taking kicks after training on Monday.

“He had the scan on Tuesday morning that confirmed a presence of a further muscle injury to his right thigh, which will require three to four weeks of rehabilitation, which means he will miss the rest of the tour,” Lions coach Ian McGeechan said.

“I am especially disappointed for Leigh as he worked so hard to come back from the setback at the start of the tour, but he has proven his strength of character by the way that he is handling the news and we wish him a quick recovery.”

The Lions coach added that they would not be calling up a replacement.

France give Dupuy first cap

FRANCE TEAM: France have selected uncapped scrumhalf Julien Dupuy in their starting line-up for Saturday's first Test against New Zealand in Dunedin.

Dupuy was the only uncapped player in a new-look squad missing a host of frontline players either through injury or their late arrival in New Zealand because of club commitments at home.

Coach Marc Lievremont named an expanded bench of nine players when announcing his squad yesterday and will omit two before the match kicks off. France will play the All Blacks in the second Test at Wellington on June 20th.

FRANCE: M Medard; C Heymans, M Bastareaud, D Traille, V Clerc; F Trinh-Duc, J Dupuy; F Barcella, W Servat, S Marconnet, P Pape, R Millo-Chluski, T Dusautoir (capt), F Ouedraogo, L Picamoles. Replacements: D Szarzewski, N Mas, T Domingo, S Chabal, R Martin, J Puricelli, D Yachvili, Y Jauzion, A Palisson (two to be omitted).

Smit not worried about lack of practice

SOUTH AFRICA: Experience gained over the past five years will compensate for a lack of match practice before South Africa's three-Test series against the British and Irish Lions, captain John Smit said yesterday.

South Africa have named a 28-man squad for the series, which starts on June 20th, including several players who missed a large part of the Super 14 through injury.

Coach Peter de Villiers has released only a handful of those players to represent their provinces in tour matches against the Lions.

A South African XV played a match against a Namibian Invitation XV on May 29th, but the frontrow was the only Test combination expected to start the match.

“I dont think we are short of rugby and the core of this team has been together for a long time and we’ve built some great combinations in that time. I guess there are two trains of thought – you either play too much rugby and everyone says you’re fatigued or you don’t play and everyone says you’re short of preparation,” said Smit.

De Villiers said the Springboks would use the first 20 minutes of the first Test as match practice. “It would have been nice to have a few more games, but where do we fit them in?”

Vice-captain Victor Matfield was asked to comment on reports that former Lions captain Willie-John McBride had said the current leader Paul O’Connell would “boss” him in the lineouts. “Paul OConnell is a great player, but I see he has had a lot to say about South African locks when Bakkies Botha and myself have not been playing,” he replied.

“We’ll see if he has that much to say to us. But it’s going to be a good battle and we’ll only know after the three Tests who has bossed who.”

Robshaw to make Test debut

ENGLAND TEAM: England will give backrow Chris Robshaw his Test debut as one of two changes for Saturday's second Test against Argentina in Salta.

Robshaw replaces James Haskell, who drops to the bench, in the number six jersey while Leicester veteran Julian White comes in for David Wilson.

Harlequins blindside Robshaw made his first senior appearance for England in the 33-26 defeat by the Barbarians on May 30th but was axed for the opening Test against Argentina. White played just seven minutes of Saturday’s 37-15 victory over the Pumas at Old Trafford.

Wilson must settle for a place among the substitutes where hooker George Chuter replaces Steve Thompson with Jordan Crane dropping out of the 22.

ENGLAND: D Armitage; M Cueto, D Hipkiss, T May, M Banahan; A Goode, D Care; T Payne, D Hartley, J White, S Borthwick capt, L Deacon, C Robshaw, S Armitage, N Easter. Replacements: G Chuter, D Wilson, B Kay, J Haskell, P Hodgson, S Vesty, M Tait.

Pumas make several changes

ARGENTINA TEAM: Argentina coach Santiago Phelan has made several changes to his starting XV to face England. Horacio Agulla remains at fullback but Francisco Leonelli and Santiago Fernandez come in at wing and centre, respectively, replacing Federico Martin Aramburu and Miguel Avramovic.

Changes have also been made to the frontrow, where Mario Ledesma and Marcos Ayerza come in for Juan Pablo Orlandi and Alberto Vernet Basualdo, who both drop to the bench.

Rimas Alvarez takes over from Manuel Carizza in the secondrow, while Alfredo Lalanne will start as scrumhalf alongside number 10 Juan Martin Hernandez

ARGENTINA: H Agulla; F Leonelli, G Tiesi, S Fernandez, G Camacho; JM Hernandez, A Lalanne; R Roncero, M Ledesma, M Ayerza, R Alvarez, P Albacete, G Fessia, JM Leguizamon, JM Fernandez Lobbe capt. Replacements: A Vernet Basualdo, JP Orlandi, M Carizza, E Lozada, N Vergallo, M Avramovic, L Gonzalez Amorosino.