The British and Irish Lions’ emphatic 48-0 win over an Invitational Australia and New Zealand XV on Saturday was overshadowed by a worrying injury to hooker Luke Cowan-Dickie.
The match in Adelaide was brought to a brief halt as medics rushed to attend to the 32-year-old after he appeared to take a blow to the head while attempting to tackle Lukhan Salakaia-Loto.
Cowan-Dickie remained motionless on the turf before being placed in a neck brace and carried from the field on a cart.
He appeared to have been knocked unconscious initially. But there was a ripple of relief among the travelling support when he was later seen waving to the crowd as he left the field.
Cowan-Dickie was also spotted walking unaided near the tunnel shortly after half-time and then returned to the pitch after the game was over to congratulate his team-mates.
However, he is unlikely to play against Australia next weekend due to mandatory concussion protocols.
British and Irish Lions star Luke Cowan-Dickie was injured during Saturday’s game in Adelaide
Cowan-Dickie, 32, required medical attention during the first half as play was briefly paused
After the match, Cowan-Dickie (right) returned to the field to congratulate his team-mates
Speaking to Sky Sports after the win, Lions head coach Andy Farrell provided a positive update on Cowan-Dickie.
‘He’s good,’ Farrell said. ‘He’s in good spirits. He got up straight away as he got off the stretcher and he’s back to being his normal self.
‘It’s unfortunate. It looked like a concussion there, so we will see what has to happen on the back of that.’
Asked if he might now need to call up another player to his squad, Farrell replied: ‘It certainly looks like it but we’ll see what the medics say first.’
Sale’s experienced front-rower had been fancied to start the series opener, but his injury could open the door for Ronan Kelleher, who came on as his replacement and scored one of the Lions’ eight tries.
Despite the injury concern, it was a dominant performance from the Lions, who ran in tries through Duhan van der Merwe, Ben White, Scott Cummings, and others to seal a comprehensive shutout in their penultimate warm-up fixture.
