THE news that Munster scrum-half Tomás O’Leary broke his ankle in the Magners League match against the Scarlets in Limerick on Friday has sent the Lions selectors scurrying back to the drawing board.

O’Leary’s energy about the base of the scrum was the perfect complement to Mike Phillips and Harry Ellis, the other scrum-halves announced in the touring squad.

The Lions may now change tack a little and choose to replace the powerful O’Leary with a passing scrum-half. Chris Cusiter, of Glasgow and Scotland, would then come into the frame, with a formal announcement due later this week.

We understand that Cusiter has overtaken his compatriot Mike Blair in the rankings. Earlier this season, Blair was seen as a shoe-in for the squad and was even being talked of as a possible captain. But he has suffered in tandem with the Scotland team this year. We understand that the Lions have asked Scotland to include the hooker Ross Ford and Cusiter in their squad for the forthcoming European Nations Cup but have made no such request for Blair.

The contenders to replace O’Leary will therefore be Cusiter, Dwayne Peel of Sale and Wales, and possibly Danny Care of Harlequins and England.

Peel was another who appeared to have every chance of selection in the original party but his form has been patchy and some of the reports reaching the Lions selectors were not complimentary. However, he was the starting scrum-half on the 2005 Lions tour of New Zealand and he maintained his form remarkably well under the most severe pressure.

Hearts will go out to O’Leary, especially because he has lost his place in the squad without even donning the Lions shirt in anger. There have been many instances of players being chosen and then invalided out of the tour, some of players who never boarded the aircraft because of injury, but none of a player ruled out so soon after the announcement.