Watson out of Lions clash with Japan
Edinburgh’s Hamish Watson has been forced to withdraw from the British Lions team for Saturday's match with Japan at BT Murrayfield.
Just 24 hours after Warren Gatland’s team was released – including four Scots and three from Edinburgh – Watson has been forced out after picking up a concussion in training yesterday. Mandatory protocols mean he will begin a phased return to action after his recovery.
His place in the The Vodafone Lions 1888 Cup match will be taken by Ospreys’ Welsh international Justin Tipuric.
Watson had been selected alongside his club winger Duhan van der Merwe and Rory Sutherland, plus Scotland team-mate Zander Fagerson. Glasgow Warriors’ Ali Price was also among the substitute sin the selectionannounced on tuesday.
He was one of eight Scots selected in the squad and hoped to stake a claim for a place in the Lions Test team in south africa after a strong season.
Gareth Thomas believes Warren Gatland remaining undefeated across three British and Irish Lions tours as head coach would represent a "bonkers achievement".
Former Wales boss Gatland will lead the Lions for the third time in the hotly-anticipated tour to South Africa, following a 2013 series win in Australia and a drawn battle in New Zealand four years later.
The Lions will kick-start their preparations for the Springboks by taking on Japan at Murrayfield on Saturday, with the first of three Tests slated for July 24 in Cape Town.
The three-cap Lion and Wales centurion Thomas hailed Gatland's self-belief as among the tourists' chief assets ahead of facing the reigning world-champion Springboks.
"It would be a bonkers achievement if he could go undefeated as Lions head coach across all three tours," said Thomas.
"He doesn't worry about what people think, he is only focused on getting the big calls in selection right. His record speaks for itself on that, and he will be fully focused on making the correct calls again. And if he goes undefeated in three tours then everyone will have to turn around and say 'you've done better than pretty well'.
Gatland has named an imposing line-up for Saturday's Murrayfield encounter against the Brave Blossoms, with tour skipper Alun Wyn Jones in at lock.
Former Wales full-back Thomas insisted that Jones could be the only tourist whose name will come anywhere near to being inked into the Test line-up. "I'd be pretty certain that outside of AWJ you'd be struggling to put in a nailed-on starter," said Thomas, speaking to highlight the Tackle HIV campaign.
"One, because the competition is there, and two, because I don't think that's the way Gats plays it. He doesn't want people to think that from the off they are pretty much in.
"He wants them in every minute to be as physically active and contributing to the performance as anybody else.
"So I think giving anyone that platform to believe they are in a superior position for a Test jersey, that's very much not a Gatland way."
Former England Women full-back Nolli Waterman also believes Gatland's time in the Lions' backroom staff on the South Africa tour of 2009 will stand the Kiwi coach in fine stead this summer.
Waterman will be commentating on the Lions tour and expects Gatland's role 13 years ago to play a key part in his preparations.
"Warren was over there in 2009 and as part of that tour he would have learned so much and it would have shaped his coaching when he took over and led," said Waterman.
"And having been through
that experience in South Africa in particular, I think he would have learned a hell of a lot in terms of what he needs to deliver, and the differences
between the three tours."
• Tackle HIV, a campaign led by Gareth Thomas in partnership with Viiv Healthcare and the Terrence Higgins Trust,
aims to tackle the stigma and misunderstanding around HIV. For more information visit www.tacklehiv.org and follow @tacklehiv