British and Irish Lions 2017: Sam Warburton prepared to miss first Test if he's not ready as faces race to be fit

Sam Warburton will pull himself out of the running for the first British and Irish Lions Test against the All Blacks if he believes he is not up to speed with his recovery from an ankle injury, with the tour captain having two matches left to prove his fitness to head coach Warren Gatland.

Warburton returns to lead the Lions in the fourth match of their tour of New Zealand against the Highlanders, having just recovered from an ankle injury that kept him out of the weekend’s 12-3 victory over the Crusaders. The Cardiff Blues flanker admitted that had he been playing regular rugby towards the back end of the domestic season, his week-long setback would not be such an issue, but because he has only played 67 minutes of rugby since suffering a knee injury at the start of April, the flanker faces a race to be fit for the first Test on 24 June.

“I definitely need more games,” Warburton said on Sunday. “I admit that and I knew that coming into the tour.

“I’ve learned from experience that it takes me at least two games and then the third game I’ll probably be playing some good rugby but Gats [Warren Gatland] knew that and I’ve received this role as tour captain and I know there’s every chance that I might not even get involved in that first Test because there’s every other player.

“I see it as I’m tour captain, and if I’ve made the Test then that would be a bonus for me, but I’ve said there’s three Tests to get selected for so it’s not the be all and end all with the first one. I’ll be honest with Gats and Gats will be honest with me if I play Tuesday and I still feel I’m a bit undercut, then go into that first Test and I might not be ready for that first Test.

“Maybe that would be the situation, or maybe I could have a blinder on Tuesday and feel absolutely fine and see how it goes really. I’ll be perfectly honest with Warren and if I feel I need more games then I’ll tell him if I don’t feel ready, and if I don’t need any then I’ll obviously let him know that with a good performance.”

It was a remarkable admission that despite being tour captain and leading the Lions to their first successful series in 16 years last time out in Australia, the flanker knows his place in the starting line-up is by no means a given.

With three matches remaining before the Lions run out in the first Test at Eden Park, Warburton will likely feature in two of those and could double-up this week against the Highlanders in Dunedin as well as the Saturday clash with the New Zealand Maori in Rotorua, although he is unlikely to start that match and will almost certainly be among the replacements if he comes through Tuesday’s encounter unscathed.

“I can honestly say I haven’t had that conversation but I think it would be very unlikely, only because coming in if I’d played as often as the Sarries or Northampton boys then I’d probably be conditioned to manage that load,” Warburton added. “But after having two months out then coming back and only having two games under my belt, from a soft tissue perspective maybe that wouldn’t be the safest thing for me to do right now. If they ask me to do it I’ll do it of course, but I’ve been around long enough to think it’s probably unlikely that I would start that game.

“Bench is a bit different. You might just get a 20-30 minute hit out, which would be quite a nice little top up.

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“But I think out loud, ‘Justin [Tipuric]will probably need a game, Toby [Faletau] will be back, Ross Moriarty will need a game’. These guys have to play as well. So it’s difficult. You want to be selfish and say ‘I might need this game time’ but other players need to play and put their hands up and have a crack as well.”

The Lions do have injury concerns on their hands though, with Stuart Hogg facing a nervous wait over the cheek injury that he suffered by running into teammate Conor Murray’s elbow during Saturday’s victory. Gatland confirmed that the fate of Hogg’s tour will be decided “within the next 24-48 hours”, while scrum-half Murray will set out the next few days of training, having dislocated a finger when tap-tackling Crusaders centre Jack Goodhue.

Ross Moriarty also remains absent, with the back strain that he suffered in the opening win over the Provincial Barbarians ruling him out of the game against the Highlanders and resulting in CJ Stander playing in a third consecutive match.