Kearney on course to face Waratahs

Rob Kearney is on course to make his first British & Irish Lions start of the 2013 tour when the tourists face the New South Wales Waratahs in Sydney on Saturday.

Kearney has been injured since suffering a slight hamstring tear before Leinster’s RaboDirect Pro12 final against Ulster on May 25 and will have missed the first four games of the Lions tour to Hong Kong and Australia.

The Ireland full-back now looks set to begin a late bid for a Test spot and was set to train with the squad today for the first time on this trip with the players not involved in this morning’s clash with Combined Country in Newcastle.

“Rob trained this morning and he ran very well,” Lions defence coach Andy Farrell said. “He’ll be back with the boys, the non 23, tomorrow morning and he’ll be looking to be fit for the weekend.”

Farrell said Kearney’s Ireland team-mate Jonny Sexton was due to resume training later this week after feeling tightness in the hamstring that was torn during the Six Nations campaign earlier this year. Both Sexton and fellow fly-half Owen Farrell (dead leg) have been rested for today’s game, with Stuart Hogg handed the number 10 jersey.

“I think they’re going to assess him again tomorrow but he’s fine,” Andy Farrell said of Sexton. “There’s no strain or anything, just a little bit of tightness and obviously with the previous injury that he’s had before it’s just a precaution. So he’ll be back in the next couple of days.”

There was also good news for wing Tommy Bowe, who underwent surgery on a fracture bone in his hand on Sunday.

“I think the wound is the key at the moment, making sure that heals so there’s no infection. Other than that he should be fine,” Farrell added.

“The medics will keep assessing him as we go on but there’s still the fact that it could be a couple of weeks.”