Cueto gains Lions reward as Balshaw limps out of tour

If Iain Balshaw lives to be 100, he will not play injured again. The Leeds full-back took something of a risk by turning out in last month's Powergen Cup final at Twickenham, having pulled up in training a few days previously. Sure enough, his dodgy thigh muscles gave out on him less than two minutes into the game, and as a direct consequence, he is out of this summer's British and Irish Lions tour of New Zealand. Mark Cueto, who should have been in the party in the first place, has been summoned in his stead.

If Iain Balshaw lives to be 100, he will not play injured again. The Leeds full-back took something of a risk by turning out in last month's Powergen Cup final at Twickenham, having pulled up in training a few days previously. Sure enough, his dodgy thigh muscles gave out on him less than two minutes into the game, and as a direct consequence, he is out of this summer's British and Irish Lions tour of New Zealand. Mark Cueto, who should have been in the party in the first place, has been summoned in his stead.

Balshaw was tested and scanned at the Lions' base near Cardiff yesterday, and was found wanting. "It's pretty clear that he won't be ready for another three weeks, maybe four," reported the head coach, Sir Clive Woodward, who added: "We're disappointed for Iain, of course, but Mark was the unluckiest of the players who missed out on the initial selection. Arguably, we should have picked him among the original 44."

Arguably? There is no argument about it. The Sale wing has scored 27 tries in 33 outings this season - he has power to add to that tally, given that he will play for his club in this weekend's European Challenge Cup final against Pau - and ran in eight in as many matches for England. There was barely a soul in Christendom who could understand Woodward's decision to omit him, and to judge by his comments yesterday, the coach no longer understands it himself.

Cueto, who had not signed his first professional contract when the Lions last toured in 2001, was suitably delighted. "I was in the middle of a club training session when Philippe Saint-André [the director of rugby at Sale] told me that I was wanted, that I should have a shower and a change of clothes and get myself down to Wales," he said. "I couldn't work out whether it was a wind-up, but when I checked my mobile phone, there was a message from the Lions team manager."

Would he have to cancel his holiday plans? "No, fortunately. Funnily enough, I was on the internet on Monday night, trying to plan a trip for my girlfriend and myself."

Woodward confirmed that one of his two French-based Welshmen, the Clermont Auvergne outside-half Stephen Jones, would not fly to Auckland with the rest of the squad because of continuing club commitments. It is possible that Gareth Thomas, the Toulouse full-back, will find himself in a similar situation. This should make the travelling arrangements slightly easier. Had the entire 74-strong party been available for a mass departure, the Lions would have needed to hire Thunderbird 2.

Thomas is involved in this Saturday's Heineken Cup final against Stade Français at Murrayfield, while another four tourists from Sale - Jason Robinson, Charlie Hodgson, Andrew Sheridan and Andy Titterrell - will be on duty against Pau. Jones, meanwhile, is scheduled to turn out for his club in a French Championship match at Beziers. None of these players is likely to be involved in the Lions' warm-up game against Argentina at the Millennium Stadium on Monday night.

Neil Back, the Leicester flanker selected for his third Lions tour, is also out of the reckoning for the Pumas fixture, having been cited by a Rugby Football Union disciplinary official for punching Joe Worsley of Wasps during last weekend's Premiership final.

Back has been ordered to attend a hearing tomorrow to answer charges relating to one of the more blatant assaults in recent memory, and while he intends to fight his corner, so to speak - "Neil thinks he's innocent," said Woodward, almost with a straight face - there is a strong possibility that he will be handed a three-week suspension. That would rule him out of the Lions' opening match against Bay of Plenty on 4 June.

"As far as I'm concerned, this game against Argentina is the first match of the tour," Woodward said. "It will be a big opportunity for the players and it's up to them to take it. Every player will start a game on the trip but it could be just one game."

That is an unforgiving regime, in anyone's currency. Back will already be feeling uncomfortable.

Next season's Heineken Cup final will be played in Cardiff, which hosted the 2002 showpiece between Leicester and Munster. That day, the tournament executives organised a fly-past by the Red Arrows, and then closed the Millennium Stadium roof before the jets arrived. Who knows what treat they have in store for us 12 months from now.

* Sale have agreed new three-year contracts with the director of rugby Philippe Saint-André and head coach Kingsley Jones.