Lions Tour:The British and Irish Lions are dropping like flies at present. Fresh off the back of Stephen Ferris' imminent departure from South Africa, Leigh Halfpenny will also return home after the Wales winger suffered a further injury during training.
Halfpenny’s Lions campaign has been plagued from the outset when he remained in Cardiff - rather than travel with the touring party – to undergo intensive treatment on his thigh problem.
When he finally arrived in South Africa and met up with the squad in Johannesburg last week the 20-year-old was named on the bench for tonight’s game against the Sharks in Durban. However, he broke down during Monday’s training session when aggravating the original injury and was replaced by his Welsh team mate James Hook for the Lions fourth game of the tour at the Absa Stadium (6.10pm Irish time).
After failing to recover coach Ian McGeechan was left with no option but to cut short his tour and will send the player home.
"Leigh unfortunately hurt his right thigh muscle during Monday afternoon's training, following a medical assessment it was decided that he should undergo a scan to determine the extent of the injury," said McGeechan.
"He had the scan on Tuesday morning that confirmed a presence of a further muscle injury to his right thigh which will require three to four weeks of rehabilitation which means he will miss the rest of the tour.
“I am especially disappointed for Leigh as he worked so hard to come back from the set back at the start of the Tour but he has proven his strength of character by the way that he is handling the news and we wish him a quick recovery."
"Leigh will travel with us to Cape Town (on Thursday) and then return to the UK to continue his rehabilitation with the Cardiff Blues. We will not be replacing Leigh as we have enough cover for his position amongst the group of players that we have."
Grand Slam winner Ferris was a strong candidate to secure a Lions Test place against world champions South Africa on Saturday week but a knee ligament tear ended his tour as the Ulster flanker now faces a six-week lay-off.
Ferris twisted his right knee during a training drill, and a scan subsequently revealed the injury's full extent. He has been replaced by Wales captain Ryan Jones, who will meet up with the rest of the squad in Cape Town tomorrow.
"He had the scan on Tuesday morning that showed he had a grade two tear to his medial collateral ligament,” added McGeechan.
"This usually requires a four to six-week recovery period and is severe enough to mean he will miss the rest of the tour.
"Therefore, with six matches left on tour after Wednesday's match against the Sharks, we believe we need to fly out a replacement as cover for the backrow.
"Ryan is on the stand-by reserve list and has been playing for Wales over the last few weeks in the USA and Canada.
"He will fit right in as he knows a lot of the players and he was a Lions replacement on the 2005 tour to New Zealand,” added the Scot, noting Jones ended up playing all three Tests in New Zealand.
"In fact, on that tour he showed how competitive he is as an individual by forcing his way into the Test side for all three matches against the All Blacks."
Ulster forward Ferris made a powerful start in South Africa, scoring tries in each of his two appearances against the Golden Lions and the Cheetahs.
And such was his impact he looked set for an intriguing head-to-head for the Lions Test number six shirt with England's Tom Croft.
Ferris' dream though, is now over, as he joins a list of players who have fallen by the wayside.
McGeechan saw hooker Jerry Flannery, scrumhalf Tomas O'Leary and Tom Shanklin all fail to make last month's flight to Johannesburg due to injuries, while a 12-week suspension sidelined Munster flanker Alan Quinlan.
