Kearney keen to make late bid

It has been a long time coming but Rob Kearney finally gets the chance to wear a Lions jersey again, relieved to be over the hamstring injury that threatened to end his second tour before it began.

The full-back was looking at the top of his game as the domestic and European season drew to a conclusion when disaster befell Kearney just before Leinster’s RaboDirect Pro12 final against Ulster on May 25 and he withdrew with a hamstring strain.

He boarded the plane at Heathrow two days later uncertain how bad his injury was and had to wait anxiously for the results of a scan undertaken in Hong Kong to learn if he would travel on to Australia as a squad member.