Andy Farrell sheds light on the Hugo Keenan late withdrawal

British & Irish Lions boss Andy Farrell has delivered an update on Leinster and Ireland full-back Hugo Keenan, who was forced to pull out of Wednesday’s 52-12 victory over Queensland Reds at Suncorp Stadium through illness.

Keenan had vowed to savour his Lions debut after recovering from a calf injury that forced him to miss the chance of helping Leinster to win the United Rugby Championship title.

But then suffered another setback hours before the game, which handed Elliot Daly another start at some cost as he faces an X-ray after sustaining a second-half arm injury.

He hopes that Keenan will be fit by the weekend, while Blair Kinghorn will be available to face the NSW Waratahs on Saturday morning after arriving in Australia earlier in the week, having helped Toulouse claim the Top 14 crown.

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“Hugo Keenan has been unwell with a bug for a few days now. He trained yesterday and got through training fine, and thought he was feeling better when he woke up this morning, until he had his breakfast, and it all came up.

“That’s not good for him, but hopefully, a couple of days, either tomorrow or the next day, will sort that out, and he will be okay,” said Lions boss Farrell.

Farrell admits that he was happy with his side’s second eight-try performance in five days and doesn’t have any concerns about a second consecutive slow start from his side.

“We settled in after the first 10-15 minutes. The Reds came out of the blocks very well. I thought they were aggressive, direct and challenging.

“And I thought we settled down after that. And once we got done with continuity, at times we played some excellent rugby. If we had been more clinical, it would have been better for us, certainly going in at half-time.

“I thought that our entries into the 22 compared to last week lack a bit of composure at times. But I was pretty pleased in the second half, we kept them out, and I thought our defence throughout was pretty good,” he added.