Tourists hit beach without Warburton

The British and Irish Lions may not have sent captain Sam Warburton a “wish you were here” card as they began a two-day break at the seaside ahead of the series-deciding third Test with Australia, but they are desperate to see the skipper return in a red jersey in Sydney on Saturday.

Warburton remained in Melbourne yesterday as the rest of the touring party flew north to the Gold Coast resort of Noosa to recharge their batteries for the final push for a first series win since 1997.

The captain was due to undergo a scan last night on the injured hamstring that forced him off the field in the 67th minute of Saturday’s Test at Etihad Stadium and was due to rejoin the squad today, his prospects of appearing in the final Test expected to be made clearer in the next 24 hours.

“Obviously coming off in a Test match like that is a bit devastating for anyone, especially as a captain,” Lions defence coach Andy Farrell said yesterday in a rainy Noosa. “You want to be there for your team-mates and lead from the front, especially in the last dying minutes of the game.

“Obviously he is disappointed about that but he is in good spirits today because he knows we have a big week ahead of us and a Test match series to win.”

Farrell reported that the rest of the squad were “fine”, including wing George North, who received treatment after a remarkable moment of play in the second half when, ball in hand, he picked up his tackler Isreal Folau and carried him in a fireman’s lift for several metres before going to ground and landing on his neck.

The bulk of the playing pool were set for a day off on a Queensland beach, while those players expected to return this weekend after injuries would be training.

“[Alex] Corbisiero and Jamie Roberts will go hard tomorrow and hopefully will be right for full training on Wednesday.”

Of scrum-half Mike Phillips, who sat out the second Test as a precaution over an injured knee, Farrell added: “He’s fine. He was in the pool running just now. He needed an inflammation injection in his knee, that’s all, which is a routine thing that was going to take him out of training for two or three days anyway. He needed that to settle down a bit for him to be full steam ahead for this week. He’s fine and ready to go.”

The Lions will need all their best players available for Sydney having lost the momentum created by the 23-21 opening-Test victory in Brisbane.

“We were lucky in the first game to get away with a win, and in the second game we could have won,” Farrell said. “I suppose you could say after those two games 1-1 is a fair way to look at it and it’s all on for the last one.

“We’ve come to Noosa for a couple of days off, we’ll lick our wounds and we’ll get back to what we have to do on Tuesday and Wednesday this week.

“Everyone is aware of the size of the task and what is at stake. We all realise it’s the biggest game of our lives and we’ll see what comes of that.”