- Video
-
Club Roar
Captured a great grassroots sporting moment? We want to see it!Content Collections
The Roar Community
- Join
- Login
Both Australia and the heart-broken British and Irish Lions have their inspirational captains in serious doubt for next Saturday’s series decider at Sydney’s ANZ Stadium.
The Wallabies kept an epic three-Test battle alive with a remarkable escape act for a thrilling 16-15 victory at a packed-out Etihad Stadium on Saturday night.
While Wallabies lock James Horwill fronts his IRB appeals hearing on Monday night, Lions skipper Sam Warburton is also in grave danger of missing the third Test with a strained hamstring.
Warburton was forced off with 13 minutes left in Melbourne and will be racing time to be fit for the decider.
It was a massive late blow for the tourists who sorely missed the Welsh flanker’s influence at the breakdown in the tense closing stages as Australia came back from 15-9 down.
Lions coach Warren Gatland lauded Warburton as “brilliant”, especially in the first half as he forced a number of turnovers at the ruck and also won two penalties which led to three-pointers by Leigh Halfpenny.
The captain said he’d “do everything I can to play” in Sydney.
“Normal protocol is to ice every two hours and the physio won’t make a proper assessment for 24-48 hours so we won’t probably know until Monday,” Warburton said.
“I’m not sure, I’ve never really done it before.
“If we win next week it will be in even more dramatic fashion than this week so it’s still everything to play for and still the dream situation to win the Test series.”
Irishman Sean O’Brien replaced Warburton and looms as a potential starter at No.7 while veteran centre Brian O’Driscoll could play his last Lions game as captain.
A cloud hung over Horwill before the second Test as the IRB launched their appeal of his exoneration of a first-Test rucking incident on Thursday night.
The second-rower was as inspirational as Warburton and is a near irreplaceable figure for the Wallabies.
Man of the match Will Genia would take over as captain but Horwill was allowing himself the chance to lap up a tense triumph before considering the gravity of Monday night’s hearing.
“I’m hoping not to think about (missing the third Test),” he said. “I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it, hopefully I don’t come to it.
“I’m expecting it to be the toughest game of the tour.
“These are intense, big battles and comes down to tiny moments, as we saw tonight.”
The only injury concern for Australia is the knee of centre Adam Ashley-Cooper.
Join The Roar rugby editor Christy Doran, former Wallaby Matt Toomua and a cast of regular and special guests as they look at the biggest issues in the game on The Roar Rugby Podcast. If you’re looking for great odds on the next game check out Aussie bookmaker PlayUp. Chances are you’re about to lose. Set a deposit limit.