Luke Cowan-Dickie suffers injury scare as British & Irish Lions run riot with eight unanswered tries against AUNZ Invitational in Adelaide

A head injury for Luke Cowan-Dickie soured the British & Irish Lions’ 48-0 win over AUNZ Invitational in Adelaide.

The hooker took a knee to the head and needed to be stretchered off the pitch after receiving treatment.

It was a concerning development for the Lions ahead of their first Test against Australia next Saturday, although there were promising signs as Cowan-Dickie returned to the bench with his team-mates in the second half.

But Andy Farrell’s side go into that match on the back of an imperious victory over AUNZ Invitational, thanks to a hat-trick from Duhan van der Merwe and tries from Ben White, Sione Tuipulotu, Scott Cummings, Ronan Kelleher and Henry Pollock.

Speaking after the match, Lions head coach Farrell said Cowan-Dickie was “in good spirits”.

“He is in good spirits and is back to his normal self,” Farrell told Sky Sports. “It looked like a concussion so we will have to see what happens after that. We will wait to see what the medics say.”

Farrell also said it “looks likely” a hooker will need to be called up to the squad ahead of the upcoming Australia Test, with Garry Ringrose expected to be absent, having suffered a concussion.

On his side’s performance against AUNZ Invitational, Farrell added: “I thought it was a good and professional performance.

“When you play these types of games and the types of personnel you can face, anything can happen but I thought we played nice, controlled rugby and we didn’t let them in the game. We are pleased with our game control.

“We stayed at it, it was never going to be perfect, and kept going as a team, that’s the main thing. There were some great individual performances but we gelled well as a team.

“We need to enjoy a bit of downtime as it has been full on for 14 days, it has been a tough old block.

“We want people to put their hands up and this group will roll on together and go after the Test series together.”

While the Lions were fluid in attack and looked a constant threat with the ball, a first shutout of the tour pleased captain Tadhg Beirne.

“Very pleased in attack and defence,” he said. “Zero against brings a massive sense of pride.

“Areas in our attack and discipline need to improve but we must improve as it is a new challenge next weekend.”