LIONS boss Andy Farrell has confirmed that Hugo Keenan is expected to return to full fitness within the next couple of days.
The full-back was forced out of Wednesday’s win over Queensland Reds due to illness.
Keenan was originally named to start but withdrew late with England’s Elliot Daly drafted in.
However, Daly’s evening was cut short after suffering a suspected broken forearm.
He left the field in the 67th minute of the Lions’ 52-12 win in Brisbane, having played on briefly after injuring himself in a tackle on Jock Campbell.
Speaking after the game, the Ireland boss gave squad updates.
He stated: “Elliot’s got a bang on the forearm and he’s going for an X-ray this evening (Wednesday). We’ve all got our fingers crossed for him,” Farrell said.
“He’s been back to his good old self. We’ve seen him do that on these tours before and he’s certainly the type of character that loves touring. He’s a people person.”
Farrell also shared details of Daly’s reaction to the late call-up before illness struck.
“I phoned him up today. He’d just come out of the gym, had done a tough old session, and I said to him, ‘How was the gym session?’ – he says, ‘Good, yeah, we trained hard’.
“I said, ‘Well done, you’ve won the golden ticket, you’re playing this evening’. He was not phased at all and that’s the type of characters that you need on tours like this.”
With Keenan recovering, Daly facing assessment, and Blair Kinghorn only arriving in camp on Monday, full-back options are limited — but Farrell remains relaxed.
“We’ve loads of full-backs. Hugo will be OK tomorrow (Thursday) or the next day and Blair’s ready to go.”
Meanwhile, as the British and Irish All-Stars cruised to a 52-12 victory over Queensland Reds the Irish legend momentarily got his languages mixed up on account of having lived in France for most of the last decade.
The 48-year-old has spoken before about the funny moments that often arise while conversing with his children who possess better French than he does.
And his latest language faux pas unfortunately came in front of a far bigger audience while on co-commentary for Sky Sports.
