Alun Wyn Jones injury rules him out of Lions tour

The British & Irish Lions have confirmed that captain Alun Wyn Jones will not fly South Africa on Sunday after dislocating his shoulder against Japan. In the aftermath of the move, the Lions named Conor Murray captain.

The second-row left the field just seven minutes into their match at Murrayfield. According to Lions head coach Warren Gatland, the medics managed put his shoulder back in and he will go for a scan, but his tour is over. Fellow Welsh lock Adam Beard has been called up as a replacement.

At the time of the initial announcement, Gatland said: “I’ve spoken to the physios, they’ve spoken to Alun Wyn, he understands the very best scenario is he may get back for the Tests.

“We need to call someone and get them (PCR/Covid 19) tested and hopefully get them on the flight tomorrow. We’re discussing names with the other coaches.”

Jones sustained the injury after trying to win the ball with a Japanese attacker on the ground. He was replaced on the field by Courtney Lawes.

Justin Tipuric leaves the field with an injury (Getty Images)

Back-rower Justin Tipuric also went off after 21 minutes with a shoulder injury. Coach Gatland described it as a stinger injury – but it has since been decided that he will also miss the tour and he has been replaced by Josh Navidi.

No 8 Jack Conan was also taken off at the end of the game as a precaution, with Gatland saying: “Just before kick off, Jack’s hamstring was a little bit tight. He did brilliantly to get through 70 minutes and we just made that decision to take him off and play with 14 men for the last ten minutes.

“Once that hamstring tightened up, it wasn’t worth losing potentially another player before we even got on the plane.”

The Lions lost their captain less than a minute into their opening Test of the series against the All Blacks in 2005, when Brian O’Driscoll was driven into the ground by New Zealand captain Tana Umaga and hooker Keven Mealamu and suffered a tour-ending shoulder injury.

Alun Wyn Jones also stepped into Lions captaincy in 2013, after skipper Sam Warburton sustained an injury in the second Test loss to the Wallabies. In doing so the second-row became the first substitute captain to lead out a Lions side for a final Test since 1904, according to the tourists’ official website.

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