Easterby For The Lions, Quinlan For Ireland

Llanelli and Ireland back row Simon Easterby has been called up to the British and Irish Lions squad after Lawrence Dallaglio suffered a serious ankle injury against Bay of Plenty on Saturday.

Easterby, who turns 30 next month, will bring the number of Irish players in Sir Clive Woodward’s panel back up to eleven, following Leinster lock Malcolm O’Kelly’s departure due to an abdominal muscle injury earlier this week.

Dallaglio suffered a fractured right ankle when falling badly whilst trying to halt a 21st-minute Bay of Plenty attack at the Rotorua International stadium.

Easterby said: “Obviously I feel for Lawrence – he was looking so impressive – so to go out of the tour this way is a massive disappointment for him.

“But I am relishing the chance to be involved in a Lions tour and cannot wait to get out and join the lads in what will be a challenging tour.”

Easterby, who is following in the footsteps of O’Kelly’s replacement Simon Shaw, is due to link up with the squad in the next couple of days, with Munster flanker Alan Quinlan to take his place in the Ireland squad.

Quinlan, who lined out with Ireland ‘A’ in March, this afternoon flew out at short notice with the tour party from Shannon airport for their two-test (June 12, 19) trip to Japan.

The 6ft 3in Easterby, already on stand-by for the Lions, was preparing to check in at the Limerick airport when he received the call from Down Under.

The Scarlets skipper was originally cleared to participate in the Far East tour after sustaining a neck injury in the recent trial match – in which Quinlan made a try-scoring impression.

Revised IRELAND SQUAD (Japan Tour 2005):

Forwards (14):

Simon Best (Belfast Harlequins/Ulster) 11/02/78, 6 caps
Reggie Corrigan (Greystones/Leinster) 19/11/70, 44 caps
Leo Cullen (Leicester Tigers) 09/01/78, 15 caps
Trevor Hogan (Shannon/Munster) 23/09/79, –
Marcus Horan (Shannon/Munster) 07/09/77, 28 caps
Bernard Jackman (Clontarf/Leinster) 05/05/76, –
Denis Leamy (Cork Constitution/Munster) 27/11/81, 2 caps
Eric Miller (Terenure College/Leinster) 23/9/75, 46 caps
Matt McCullough (Ballymena/Ulster) 09/09/81, –
Johnny O’Connor (Wasps) 09/06/82, 6 caps
Alan Quinlan (Shannon/Munster) 13/07/74, 21 caps
Frankie Sheahan (Cork Constitution/Munster) 27/08/76, 22
caps
David Wallace (Garryowen/Munster) 08/07/76, 21 caps
Roger Wilson (Belfast Harlequins/Ulster) 21/09/81, –

Backs (12):

Tommy Bowe (Belfast Harlequins/Ulster) 22/02/84, 1 cap
Kieran Campbell (Dungannon/Ulster) 06/07/79, –
Girvan Dempsey (Terenure College/Leinster) 02/10/75, 58 caps
Gavin Duffy (NEC Harlequins) 18/09/81, 2 caps
Anthony Horgan (Cork Constitution/Munster) 15/11/76, 4 caps
David Humphreys (Capt) (Dungannon/Ulster) 10/09/71, 67 caps
Kieran Lewis (St Mary’s College/Leinster) 19/08/80, –
Conor McPhillips (St Mary’s College/Connacht) 09/02/81, –
Kevin Maggs (Belfast Harlequins/Ulster) 03/06/74, 69 caps
David Quinlan (Northampton Saints) 04/01/78, –
Jeremy Staunton (Wasps) 07/05/80, 1 cap
Peter Stringer (Shannon/Munster) 13/12/77, 56

Standby (7):

Gary Brown (Blackrock College/Leinster) 01/11/80, –
James Downey (Clontarf/Connacht) 23/03/81, –
Ben Gissing (Clontarf/Leinster) 15/07/75, –
Shane Jennings (Leicester Tigers) 08/07/81, –
Chris Keane (Buccaneers/Connacht) 25/10/78, –
Ronnie McCormack (Buccaneers/Leinster) 27/04/77, –
Paul Shields (Ballymena/Ulster) 25/09/78, 2 caps