There will be few more poignant sights on tour than that of the 21-year-old Scottish back-rower, Simon Taylor (left), as his squad-mates virtually formed a queue to bid a quiet farewell to him in an obscure little departure terminal at Perth domestic airport on Saturday. Somehow, he had a smile and a hand for all of them.
Having intended to fly on to Townsville with the squad from Perth, Taylor availed of the delay to suggest that he head home there and then. A relatively shy type only coming out of his shell lately, the four-times capped Taylor was equally phlegmatic in taking this blow on the chin with a smile - publicly at any rate - when giving an impromptu press conference to a few journalists.
"It's not serious but it's six weeks and that puts paid to the tour," said Taylor. "I'd no inkling it was serious. It wasn't sore at all. I should have kept my mouth shut and sellotaped it up," he joked.
The real disappointment from a Scottish perspective is that their most outstanding talent in years will now miss out on five more weeks' intensive development. "Most people can probably imagine how pissed off you would be. I've not got into the tour at all. The fact that I did get onto the pitch, I suppose you could say that's something. The other consolation is that it's a relatively short-term injury. However, apart from that, it's hard to see much consolation."
Both mocking himself and the slightly funereal press corps, Taylor concluded tongue-in-cheek. "I'll go back home and see my family. Hopefully they can cheer me up. I'll just cry into my pillow for a few months or so. No, I'll probably just go on holiday for a while and Edinburgh's not a bad place in the summer to drown you sorrows."
"It's the saddest thing of the tour," admitted Graham Henry. "It's very difficult for everyone but he left with a smile on his face and wished everybody well, and that speaks volumes for the person. The tour goes on. I talked to the doctor yesterday and he told me the average is six for guys going home from a Lions tour. We're trying to reduce that average but we haven't started that well."
