Thursday 25 May 2017 17:17, UK
George Kruis says the Lions can handle the loss of his Saracens team-mate Billy Vunipola ahead of their New Zealand tour.
Vunipola was expected to start the Test series at No 8, but an ongoing shoulder injury has forced him out of Warren Gatland's squad.
Lions great Brian O'Driscoll this week told Sky Sports News HQ Vunipola's absence was "absolutely astronomical" and identified the forward as the one player Gatland could not afford to lose.
But Kruis says the calibre of replacement James Haskell, who joins Taulupe Faletau, CJ Stander and Ross Moriarty in the squad, shows the tourists can cope.
"Billy is a quality player," Kruis added. "Everyone knows what he is about, what his strengths are. It will be a loss, but we've got the best players around and someone will do that role."
Haskell is a veteran of 75 England caps and was man of the series when Eddie Jones' tourists won in Australia last summer.
Kruis said: "James Haskell is coming in. You look at where he has played, what he has played, the experience he will bring. And he is a top-quality tourist as well."
England lock Kruis is new to the Lions experience and has found his first week's training "challenging" as the tourists prepare to fly out on Monday.
"You are training with the best players around and it is really exciting," he said. "We had a really good blow-out - it was the last training session for a few days - and you can really learn off people.
"You are constantly seeing different systems and it is just keeping as open ears as possible. It has been challenging, but it has been good. You never want a training session to be perfect, because you are not really learning then."
