Van Poortvliet called up to train with Lions as cover for Gibson-Park

Van Poortvliet played for England A in their win over an Ireland second string back in Feburary

Leicester scrum-half Jack van Poortvliet has been called up to train with the British and Irish Lions after Irelands Jamison Gibson-Park suffered a minor glute strain.

Van Poortvliet will fly to Dublin on Tuesday morning to help the team prepare for their match against Argentina on Friday.

Gibson-Park, Englands Alex Mitchell and Wales Tomos Williams are the three scrum-halves named in head coach Andy Farrells original squad.

Farrell has called up several players to help the Lions prepare for their warm-up match against the Pumas, with England front-rowers Jamie George and Asher Opoku-Fordjour filling in, in the absence of players involved in the Premiership and United Rugby Championship finals last weekend, before returning home.

Van Poortvliet was Englands first-choice nine before the 2023 Rugby World Cup but sustained an ankle injury, which forced him to withdraw from the tournament and gave Mitchell an opportunity to stake his claim.

He has been in fine form during Leicesters run to the Premiership final and edged ahead of Harry Randall to earn a place on the bench at the back end of Englands Six Nations campaign.

Gibson-Park, widely assumed to be the leading contender to start at nine in the three-Test series against Australia this summer, pulled out of Leinsters URC final against the Bulls on the morning of Saturdays match.

He is part of a contingent of Leinster players who arrive for Lions duty carrying injuries, with tight-head prop Tadhg Furlong and full-back Hugo Keenan reporting calf complaints.

Furlong has made just nine appearances for his province and Ireland this season and is a particular concern with Scotlands Zander Fagerson already pulling out of the tour with injury.

Finlay Bealham and Englands Will Stuart are the other tight-head options in the squad, with Opoku-Fordjour, who can play on both sides of the scrum, seemingly on stand-by after his role in camp last week.

Van Poortvliets call-up to the Lions leaves England a scrum-half short as they prepare for their match against a France XV at Twickenhams Allianz Stadium on Saturday.

The Lions will arrive in Perth on Sunday before taking on Western Force in their opening tour match on Saturday 28 June.