Garry Ringrose ruled out of second Lions Test after concussion symptoms return

Garry Ringrose has been ruled out of the British and Irish Lions’ second Test against Australia at the MCG after reporting a recurrence of concussion symptoms during Thursday’s final training session, head coach Andy Farrell confirmed.

Ringrose had been named to start at outside centre alongside Bundee Aki, forming an all-Irish midfield for Saturday’s clash.

However, the Ireland star approached Farrell moments after training to report symptoms, forcing a last-minute change in the lineup. Scotland’s Huw Jones will now partner Aki in midfield.

“Garry was actually selected and unfortunately after training he’s had to pull out,” said Farrell. “It’s head-related again. It was literally as I was walking off the field. He came to me, and once that’s mentioned, that’s that.”

Farrell clarified that there had been no new incident or contact that triggered the symptoms. “There was no incident through the game on Tuesday at all, nothing yesterday and nothing this morning,” he added. “But with these type of things, players are getting very good at telling the truth of how they feel, so it was a no-brainer to make the change straight away.”

Ringrose had previously missed the opening Test, which the Lions won 27-19 in Brisbane, after concussion symptoms first emerged. He had returned to play 64 minutes in Tuesday’s match against the First Nations and Pasifika XV without any immediate issues.

Sione Tuipulotu, who started the first Test, was also unavailable due to a tight hamstring, opening the door for Aki’s return and the reshuffling of the centre pairing.

The second Test in Melbourne on Saturday, with the Lions aiming to clinch the series.

British and Irish Lions: 15 Hugo Keenan, 14 Tommy Freeman, 13 Huw Jones, 12 Bundee Aki, 11 James Lowe, 10 Finn Russell, 9 Jamison Gibson-Park, 8 Jack Conan, 7 Tom Curry, 6 Tadhg Beirne, 5 Ollie Chessum, 4 Maro Itoje (c), 3 Tadhg Furlong, 2 Dan Sheehan, 1 Andrew Porter

Reserves: 16 Ronan Kelleher, 17 Ellis Genge, 18 Will Stuart, 19 James Ryan, 20 Jac Morgan, 21 Alex Mitchell, 22 Owen Farrell, 23 Blair Kinghorn