Sam Warburton, who is the bookmakers’ favourite to captain the British & Irish Lions on the summer tour to New Zealand, is unlikely to play again this season after sustaining knee-ligament damage but he is expected to be fit for the three-Test trip.
Warren Gatland, the Lions head coach, will name his squad on 19 April and the captain is likely to have already been told given that Warburton received a fortnight’s notice before the announcement in 2013 that the Wales flanker would lead the squad in Australia.
One of the other contenders, the Wales captain Alun Wyn Jones, is unlikely to appear again in the regular season for Ospreys after sustaining a shoulder injury in the final round of the Six Nations against France in Paris, but with the region on course for the Pro12 play-offs, he should be back in action before the Lions fly to New Zealand at the end of May.
Warburton was injured last week playing for Cardiff Blues at Ulster and his region expect him to be available should they make the play-off final for the last place in next season’s European Champions Cup on 26 May.
“Sam has a low‑grade strain which will put him out for approximately six weeks,” said the Blues head coach, Danny Wilson. “If we were fortunate to make the final play-off game, we would envisage him being available for that and he should not have any problems regarding the Lions.
“He’s played a lot of rugby this year, so in many ways a break might freshen him up a little bit. He has been fine today. I think it’s relatively good news considering how it could have been. Players get back quickly if they follow protocol religiously and knowing how diligent Sam is, I am sure that will be the case with him.”
The England captain, Dylan Hartley, and the Ireland captain, Rory Best, who led his side to victory against New Zealand in Chicago last November, are two other candidates who will have been discussed, but Warburton, who led Wales for five years under Gatland, is the frontrunner because of his strong working relationship with the head coach on a tour where time is against them.
Sale’s Mike Phillips, who has won 99 caps for Wales and was the Test scrum‑half on the past two Lions tours, will retire at the end of the season at 34, the same age as the Saracens flanker and former Scotland captain Kelly Brown who will became academy coach at the club. Sale have signed the 26-year old Stade Français back rower Jono Ross who played two matches for Sarries in 2012, the second an away defeat in the LV Cup at the Sharks.
