Warburton ‘fully fit’ for Lions tour
British and Irish Lions coach Warren Gatland expects to lose up to 10 players to injury over the next month, but has had one key positive result with tour skipper Sam Warburton declaring himself ‘‘fully fit’’ to tour New Zealand.
The Wales flanker has not played since damaging his knee playing for the Cardiff Blues against Ulster in the Pro12 league on April 7.
But he provided a huge boost to the Lions just a week out from departure for their demanding 10-match tour of New Zealand.
Warburton told media at their latest training camp in Ireland he had recovered fully from the knee injury, had returned to full contact training and hoped to play a full part on the tour of New Zealand.
‘‘I am fully fit, which is good,’’ he said ahead of next Monday’s (UK time) departure for New Zealand.
‘‘Last week in the camp in Wales I was pretty much doing everything apart from just the last little bit of contact stuff.
‘‘But today I trained fully. I did full contact, and I was absolutely fine. That’s all the boxes ticked, and now I can crack on.’’
Gatland, though, still has his injury worries, with hard-hitting No 8 Billy Vunipola (shoulder) the first major defection. Fellow England scrum-half Ben Youngs also withdrew at the start of May after his brother’s wife learned that she is terminally ill.
The Lions coach is also sweating on Wales hooker Ken Owens, who will miss Scarlets’ Pro12 final against Munster this weekend because of an ankle injury, Ireland prop Jack Mcgrath (arm injury), Wales scrum-half Rhys Webb (groin) and Ireland loose forward Sean O’brien (calf).
Gatland said injuries were par for the course in rugby, and he’s expecting more: ‘‘We plan to lose six to 10 players; that’s just the attrition rate of past tours.’’
Warburton, who led the Lions to their 2-1 series victory over Australia four years ago, said New Zealand stood out as the ultimate tour. The touring side has only ever beaten the All Blacks once in a series, back in 1971.
‘‘I can’t wait to get out there,’’ he said. ‘‘I am not going to be naive. I know it is going to be more under the microscope than four years ago.
‘‘Then, I was walking around Melbourne and Australians were asking me who the British and Irish Lions were?
‘‘I know there is not going to be anywhere in New Zealand we go and that question is going to be asked. Everybody is going to know who we are and what we are doing, and it’ll feel like there won’t be too much space out there.
‘‘That’s great. If you asked me in my career which Lions tour could I pick to go on out of any of them, if I could pick one, I would pick New Zealand.’’
The Welsh loosie also continued to promote the theory that the Lions will hold some sort of edge over the All Blacks because of Ireland’s famous victory over the New Zealanders in Chicago last November.
Warburton noted that former rugby league pro Andy Farrell had been defence coach for both Ireland’s victory in Chicago and England’s over the All Blacks at Twickenham in 2012.
‘‘Already he’s set the tone defensively. He spoke very well at our defensive meeting and I think everybody has got a huge appetite to defend for Andy, and that’s going to be a massive part of the game against New Zealand.
‘‘As we get closer to those test matches, we’ll tap into the Irish boys a little bit more, and I’m sure they’ll share a little bit of insight on their success over New Zealand as well.’’