IRELAND full-back Rob Kearney – one of the British and Irish Lions’ star men in South Africa four years ago – is battling to prevent his Australia adventure from ending before it has started.

Lions boss Warren Gatland admitted that Kearney’s hamstring injury, confirmed as a grade one tear following scans in Hong Kong, is a concern.

While there are currently no plans to summon a replacement for the 27-year-old Leinster player, he has clearly got a testing fitness battle on his hands.

The Lions have two other outstanding full-backs on tour in Welshman Leigh Halfpenny and Scottish prospect Stuart Hogg, which seemingly takes the heat off Kearney a little.

But the Lions would not want to lose a player who shone against the Springboks in 2009 and has won 46 Test caps.

‘‘We want to give him some time,’’ Gatland said.

‘‘We feel like we’ve got cover at the moment with Leigh Halfpenny and Stuart Hogg – and obviously Sean Maitland has played quite a lot at full-back as well.

‘‘But we will see how Rob progresses. There have been some markers put in place, and if we can hit those in the right timescale we can hopefully bring him back. But it looks a little bit concerning at this stage.’’ For tomorrow’s game there are 15 changes from the side that crushed the Barbarians 59-8, with Halfpenny, wing Tommy Bowe, centre Manu Tuilagi, hooker Rory Best and flanker Tom Croft among those starting.

Tour skipper Sam Warburton is kept waiting for his first appearance following management of a knee injury, but he looks set to start against Queensland Reds in Brisbane next Saturday.