Watch the British and Irish Lions' first tour game in South Africa this Saturday vs the Emirates Lions, live on Sky Sports Action from 4pm; Warren Gatland says Alun Wyn Jones could be called up for the latter stages of the series after discovering his injury is not as bad as first feared
Friday 2 July 2021 12:41, UK
Alun Wyn Jones has told Warren Gatland he is optimistic of making a "miracle recovery" in time for the British and Irish Lions' Test series against South Africa.
Wales captain Jones was forced to drop out of the squad after dislocating his shoulder in Saturday's 28-10 victory over Japan at Murrayfield.
Ireland scrum-half Conor Murray took on the mantle of Lions captain from Jones, with Wales second row Adam Beard called up in his place.
But, Jones has now been told by a specialist that the injury may not be as bad as first feared, and Gatland has suggested the 35-year-old could potentially join up with the squad in the latter stages of the series.
"Given his age, they think that they could potentially take a few shortcuts, more than you would do with a young player, if he picked up this type of injury at the start of his career," Gatland said.
"He's kind of optimistic that a miracle may happen, and then he can get himself right. We're just going to assess it and see how the next couple of weeks goes. I think the specialist said, when he had to look at it, that it wasn't quite as bad as he thought it would be.
"But not good enough, obviously, to come on tour to start with, and, and we needed a replacement otherwise we would have put too much pressure on him and the other second rows.
"We're going to monitor that and as we come towards the end of the tour, or if we pick up an injury and he's making amazing progress, something can happen - you never know. So it's kind of one of those just wait and see situations."
