Ian McGeechan today eased fears injury might force Malcolm O'Kelly and Simon Taylor out of the British and Irish Lions tour even before the squad depart for New Zealand.
Both men have been withdrawn from the side to face Argentina at the Millennium Stadium on Monday after respectively sustaining hamstring and abdominal muscle injuries in training yesterday.
Taylor has been dogged by injury for the past year and only returned from ankle surgery at the tail-end of the RBS 6 Nations. The Scottish loose-forward was invalided out of the 2001 Lions tour but McGeechan is confident both men will make the flight to Auckland this Wednesday.
McGeechan stressed the move to replace Taylor and O'Kelly with Martin Corry and Donncha O'Callaghan is merely precautionary ahead of such an intense seven-week tour in New Zealand.
"They picked up the two injuries up in the session yesterday and the medics got onto it straight away and they are assessing them day-by-day," said McGeechan, who takes charge of the Lions' midweek team.
"We are still awaiting the final assessment on both Malcolm and Simon but with the close proximity of the game on Monday night, changes needed to be put in place. Donncha and Martin start with Ben Kay and Lawrence Dallaglio coming onto the bench. This Lions party has the strength and depth to put in place changes such as these and we are looking forward to the first game of the 2005 tour."
