Seymour’s pride over living the Lions dream
Warriors ace vows to grab chance to shine against All Blacks
SCOTLAND wing Tommy Seymour is “living a dream” following his British and Irish Lions selection to tour New Zealand.
The Glasgow Warriors star has just completed a first pre-tour training camp in Wales with 13 of his Lions colleagues – the remaining 27 players are all currently involved in domestic and European play-offs.
And the involvement has already more than matched the 28-year-old’s expectations.
“Any rugby player from the British Isles and Ireland dreams of this happening,” Seymour said.
“I have been so fortunate that it has happened to me. It is living a dream every day.
“It has been surreal coming in, with all the history of the Lions and seeing the quality of players dotted around all over the place, the support staff, everyone.
“There is so much history involved in a tour like this. I am fully aware of the quality there in the squad. We will drive each other, and the standards right up. Everyone has a goal of playing in the Test side, and I am no different.”
Despite the Lions being well down in numbers for their initial training get-together, a considerable amount of work was done ahead of next week’s camp in Ireland and the opening tour game against a New Zealand Provincial Barbarians XV on June 3.
“We’ve had a really successful week,” Seymour added. “We’ve had enough numbers to be able to accomplish a lot of stuff. In my opinion, we have been able to tick a lot of boxes.
“Everyone coming in is an intelligent rugby player at the highest level, and they will be able to pick things up very quickly. But certainly for us it has been great to get a foot in the door, which will help to get everyone integrated as quickly as possible.
“I am in a Lions head now, I need to get familiar with the guys who are here. I am really enjoying it, meeting all the guys.”
The Lions’ schedule before meeting New Zealand in the series opener on June 24 includes four Super Rugby opponents – Blues, Crusaders, Highlanders and Chiefs – which offers head coach Warren Gatland ideal opportunities to assess potential Test team personnel.
And wing options look particularly strong, with Seymour, George North, Anthony Watson, Liam Williams and Jack Nowell all in Gatland’s squad.
“We will make sure we have quality in every game we play out there, that’s the main thing,” said 36-times-capped Seymour.
“Those three Tests are the top of the mountain. They are the No.1 side in the world for a reason. We have to be aware we have to go through pain to beat this side.
“Everything has to be second nature, we have to be physical with them and play with some ambition. Take the game to them as well, get all the detail on the field.
“We have to be expansive against them, and we have players who can do that with unbelievable turns of pace.”
The key to ensuring that the ankle sprain does not recur is proper rehabilitation of the initial injury – hence the reason why top sports stars do not rush back too soon from an ankle ligament injury.
Diagnosis is usually straightforward but sometimes an X-ray is required to exclude a fracture.
Treatment for ankle