Mack Hansen again took no part in the British and Irish Lions’ training session on Tuesday in Brisbane. Just four days out from the first Test against the Wallabies, it appears as if the Connacht the winger has effectively been ruled out of contention.
In any event, there was a notably less optimistic outlook for Hansen from the Lions’ assistant coach Richard Wigglesworth, who confirmed that the player had incurred a foot injury in the 48-0 win over an Invitational XV in the Adelaide Oval last Saturday.
Bracketing him with Blair Kinghorn, whose knee injury in the win over the Brumbies last Wednesday necessitated a call-up for Jamie Osborne, Wigglesworth admitted to having “a doubt” about Hansen’s participation although the player is “definitely not ruled out”. By their standards, that’s Lions-speak for “crocked”.
Slow Lions build-up finally culminates in Test week
“A bit like Blair, we will find out tomorrow, he didn’t train fully today so we will know a bit more tomorrow.”
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Wigglesworth confirmed that Hansen’s injury, rather than Garry Ringrose’s concussion, was the reason behind Darcy Graham linking up with the Lions on Monday ahead of his Scottish team-mates.
“Potentially we needed to make sure we were covered numbers-wise an for the games coming up. That was why he was out a bit quicker, because of Blair and Mack not being on their feet today and potentially tomorrow.”
Asked if Hansen was a serious doubt for Saturday, Wigglesworth said: “Yeah, because as I said it’s the same with Blair. If they get on the field tomorrow and they’re better, then they’re right in contention. We’ve not finalised anything yet.
“A doubt is anyone who didn’t train fully today but he’s definitely not ruled out.”
Thomas Clarkson arrived bleary-eyed in Brisbane and linked up with the squad on Tuesday and will train with them on Wednesday.
“I think we can definitely get better because there is actually time,” said Wigglesworth. “What we have had to do is a lot of walk-throughs, low-intensity stuff and a lot of meetings and reviews in prep but there is a game going on. This is a chance to train what you want to get better at, as well as the plans and what we have been doing. So we expect to be better again on Saturday.
As to whether the Lions might tighten their approach in the Tests, he said: “I think every game is different, you don’t know where the game is going to played, how it is going to be refereed, where the space is going to be so we will adapt to what that looks like.
“We have been ambitious because that is where we felt the space was and the options at the time, if that presents itself Saturday night then that is what we will want to do, if it doesn’t we will need to find a different way of trying to win the Test match.”
The assistant coaches have not been given any labels per se, as Wigglesworth, the England attack coach, dovetails with Andrew Goodman, the Ireland attack coach, and Johnny Sexton, who is primarily working with the kickers.
Farrell wants it to be “as collaborative as possible and bounce ideas off each other” according to Wigglesworth “with everyone feeling like they can contribute and help with what’s going on. It helps that I’ve got on with those two [Sexton and Goodman] really well – they’re top coaches and more importantly top men. I’ve enjoyed working with them and getting to know them.’
Wigglesworth admits that the attack is the hardest part of developing a team.
“Naturally, it’s going to look a bit clunky at times, but there were reasons for that. We didn’t get the breakdown right for a couple of games and there’s not a team in world rugby who looks good without a decent breakdown. We were better at that at the weekend and we know we need to be better at that again this weekend.”
