Lions wait on Luger X-rays

The injury-prone Lions were waiting on X-ray results last night to discover whether Dan Luger has been ruled out of the first Test against Australia in Brisbane on Saturday week.

Luger, the best wing in the British Isles, suffered a cheekbone injury in a training ground collision with England team-mate Neil Back yesterday and was immediately ruled out of Saturday's match against New South Wales Waratahs at Sydney Football Stadium.

Back escaped unscathed from a clash of heads but Luger, whose injury-time try enabled England to beat the World Cup-holders at Twickenham last November, needed urgent medical attention.

The initial damage gave the tourists no alternative but to withdraw him from what was supposed to be Saturday's final run-out for the prospective Test team. Jason Robinson takes over on the left wing with another England wing, Ben Cohen, taking his place among the seven substitutes.

An automatic choice for the three-Test series, Luger's loss would be potentially far more damaging than the previous casualties.

Lions manager Donal Lenihan said: 'Dan has a facial injury which we are in the process of assessing. We will know more when we receive a further report tomorrow.' Since breaking into the England team, Luger, 26, has been plagued by injury to such an extent that he has missed the last two Six Nations tournaments apart from a brief appearance against Wales in February. Since completing his rehabilitation last month, Luger has scored four tries in his two full appearances as a Lion.