B&I Lions captain out of SA Tour

NEWS: The British and Irish Lions suffered a major setback ahead of their tour of South Africa when captain Alun Wyn Jones was ruled out of the trip after suffering a shoulder injury in Saturday's warm-up match against Japan in Edinburgh.

Veteran lock Jones, 35, went off just eight minutes into a 28-10 win over Japan at Murrayfield, a curtain-raiser for an eight-game tour of South Africa that culminates with three Tests against the world champion Springboks.

The Lions are due to fly to South Africa on Sunday, with the first of those Tests taking place in Cape Town on July 24.

"His shoulder dislocated. We're getting it scanned but it's looking like we'll have to replace him," B&I Lions head coach Warren Gatland told reporters after the match.

"It's very disappointing. He's been around rugby long enough but he'll be gutted. We need to call someone in, get them PCR tested and hopefully get them on the flight tomorrow [Sunday]."

Former Wales boss Gatland now also needs to name a new captain.

Wales hooker Ken Owens, who led the side initially when Jones left the field at Murrayfield, as well as England captain Owen Farrell and Red Rose teammate Maro Itoje are among the candidates to take over the role.

"We're discussing a couple of names at the moment with the coaches. Also potentially who will take over as tour captain," said Gatland.

"We have a leadership group that are pretty experienced and it's not something that is urgent to be done. But we are aware of who potentially steps into that role."

There were more injury worries for the Lions when Justin Tipuric went off in the first half to be replaced by fellow Wales back-row forward Taulupe Faletau.

"Justin got a stinger in the shoulder so we're going to check to make sure on a scan that there's no nerve damage," Gatland said.

On the pitch, the Lions ran in four tries to their opponents' one in what was Japan's first international since losing to eventual winners South Africa in the 2019 Rugby World Cup quarter-finals.

'No one is in shock'

Wing Josh Adams and Duhan van der Merwe both crossed before Ireland's Robbie Henshaw and Tadhg Beirne went over, with Wales flyhalf Dan Biggar converting all four tries.

But the injuries to Jones and Tipuric threatened to overshadow the result.

Nevertheless Gatland, in charge of his third successive Lions tour, insisted: "No one is in shock because if you're in shock its reflects back into the whole squad.

"If you go into a shock scenario and look as if you are panicking then it will reflect badly on us.

"It's disappointing for Alun Wyn and also for Justin Tipuric if he is not right, but we have to do it right."