Andy Farrell has called in another player as cover ahead of his side’s first warm-up match against Argentina
Andy Farrell has called England scrum-half Jack van Poortvliet into his British & Irish Lions squad ahead of their first warm-up match against Argentina on Friday night.
The 24-year-old Leicester Tigers star, who has won 18 Test caps since making his England debut in 2022, missed out on a place in Farrell’s original 38-man squad but has now been drafted in as cover. It was announced on Tuesday morning that van Poortvliet was travelling to Dublin to train with the Lions before their clash with the Pumas in the Irish capital in three days’ time.
It comes hours after he was named in Steve Borthwick’s England training squad for their match against a France XV at Allianz Stadium, Twickenham on Saturday afternoon. Sign up to Inside Welsh rugby on Substack to get exclusive news stories and insight from behind the scenes in Welsh rugby.
“Leicester Tigers and England scrum-half Jack van Poortvliet will this morning fly into Dublin to train with the Lions as they prepare for the 1888 Cup fixture against Argentina,” a brief Lions squad update read.
“Van Poortvliet will join as cover ahead of the Lions game on Friday. On Monday van Poortvliet was named in Steve Borthwick’s 36-player training squad ahead of England’s match against a France XV on Saturday.
“The 24-year-old made his England debut against Australia in Perth in 2022 and has since won 15 caps for his country.”
Van Poortvliet’s involvement comes after Ireland scrum-half Jamison Gibson-Park was withdrawn from Leinster’s matchday squad shortly before their United Rugby Championship final showdown against the Bulls on Saturday.
While the exact reason for the withdrawal has not been disclosed, the 33-year-old is understood to have been carrying an injury niggle from their URC semi-final win over Glasgow Warriors, which prevented him from training fully all week.
“Unfortunately Jamison Gibson-Park has been ruled out this morning,” read a short pre-match statement from Leinster on Saturday afternoon. “Best of luck to Luke McGrath who starts and academy scrum-half Fintan Gunne named on the bench.”
Gibson-Park, who is widely considered to be the one of the best players in the world in his position, is expected to start the first Test against Australia this summer barring injury.
However, if he is unable to recover from the niggle, Wales’ Tomos Williams or England’s Alex Mitchell will be expected to take the starting jersey, with the Welshman potentially getting his first run-out in a Lions jersey against Argentina later this week.
The introduction of van Poortvliet also comes after Farrell welcomed in 15 of the 16 players that were yet to join up with the full squad due to their involvement in the URC and Gallagher Premiership finals.
Leinster stars Jack Conan, Tadhg Furlong, Ronan Kelleher, Joe McCarthy, Andrew Porter and James Ryan all entered camp in Dublin on Monday, alongside teammates Dan Sheehan, Josh van der Flier, Hugo Keenan, James Lowe, Garry Ringrose and Gibson-Park.
They were joined by Bath duo Finn Russell and Will Stuart and Leicester Tigers forward Ollie Chessum.
The huge boost in numbers in camp meant that England front rowers Jamie George and Asher Opoku-Fordjour returned to their clubs after training on Monday, having also been called in as cover for last week’s warm-weather camp in Portugal.
As it stands, just one player is yet to join up with the rest of the squad, with Scotland’s Blair Kinghorn still on Top 14 duties with French side Toulouse.
