Croft gets call-up as injuries hit Lions
LEICESTER flanker Tom Croft was last night drafted into the British and Irish Lions squad for the tour of South Africa.
England international Croft was called up after Ireland’s Alan Quinlan had his appeal against a 12-week suspension for eye-gouging rejected.
The development came after Ireland hooker Jerry Flannery was ruled out of the tour and Wales winger Leigh Halfpenny suffered an injury setback.
Flannery tore ligaments in his elbow during training yesterday and, after a scan, it was decided he needed surgery, meaning he will miss the tour.
Halfpenny is set to return to Cardiff tomorrow to have treatment on a thigh injury which team medics said was “more significant than first thought”. He will miss the start of the tour but it is hoped he will rejoin the squad later.
Coach Ian McGeechan turned to Croft after Quinlan’s ban, for an offence during Munster’s Heineken Cup semi-final defeat to Leinster, was upheld yesterday evening.
McGeechan said: “We had to be fair and allow Alan Quinlan the opportunity to appeal his suspension. However, following the outcome of the appeal we’ve replaced Quinlan with Tom Croft who was very unlucky not to have been selected in the original tour party.”