'Selfless' Garry Ringrose praised after concussion withdrawal

Ireland's Garry Ringrose has been praised for self-reporting the concussion symptoms that have cost him the chance of playing his first Test for the Lions.

Ringrose pulled out of a Lions team that shows three changes from the opening 27-19 victory over Australia, with Andrew Porter, Ollie Chessum and Bundee Aki given starts.

On the bench Owen Farrell is poised to make his first international appearance since helping England finish third at the 2023 World Cup and he is joined by Jac Morgan, the only Welshman in the touring party.

The starting XV is made up of nine players from Ireland – seven of whom represent Leinster – four Englishmen and two from Scotland.

The Ireland and Leinster contingent would have increased by one had Ringrose not told head coach Andy Farrell shortly before he was due to officially announce the team that his concussion symptoms had returned.

An injury that initially surfaced after July 9’s win over the ACT Brumbies forced him to sit out the first Test, but having made a successful comeback against the First Nations and Pasifika XV on Tuesday, he was poised to replace Huw Jones at outside centre.

Instead, he will be watching from the stands with Jones continuing in midfield for the Lions’ shot at completing a series victory at Melbourne Cricket Ground.

“Garry was actually selected and unfortunately, after training, he’s had to pull out,” Andy Farrell said.

“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.

“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.

“It’s very easy to keep it to yourself and lie and not be honest