{"id":409648,"date":"2026-01-13T06:31:07","date_gmt":"2026-01-13T06:31:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/409648\/"},"modified":"2026-01-13T06:31:07","modified_gmt":"2026-01-13T06:31:07","slug":"fully-fit-lynagh-clear-of-concussion-hamstring-injuries-as-flyhalf-hunts-for-wallabies-spot","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/409648\/","title":{"rendered":"Fully fit Lynagh clear of concussion, hamstring injuries as flyhalf hunts for Wallabies spot"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"css-2425b0\">Queensland Reds and Wallabies flyhalf Tom Lynagh had put aside a tough injury run, confirming his readiness to return to the field in 2026.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-2425b0\">Lynagh is coming off &#8216;one of the best years of his life&#8217; after earning the starting flyhalf spot for the Wallabies during the British &amp; Irish Lions series.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-2425b0\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.stan.com.au\/watch\/sport\/rugby\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" class=\"css-tm001h\">Watch every second of Super Rugby Pacific live and on demand via Stan Sport.<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"css-2425b0\">The 22-year-old made his Test debut in 2024, but an excellent Super Rugby Pacific season for the Reds, along with a neck injury to Noah Lolesio, saw him thrust further into the spotlight.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-2425b0\">Lynagh started all three games; however, he was the subject of an unpunished high shot by hooker Dan Sheenan in the third Test, which left the fly-half with a concussion. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rugby.com.au\/news\/dan-sheehan-banned-for-three-matches-after-dangerous-lynagh-cleanout-202584\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" class=\"css-tm001h\">The resulting tackle saw the Irish hooker suspended for three weeks.<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"css-2425b0\">There were suggestions that this was the cause of his extended time away from the game; however, Lynagh revealed a niggling hamstring strain suffered against Argentina had been the root of his absence. <\/p>\n<p class=\"css-2425b0\">\u201cThe body\u2019s feeling a lot better. I had a lot of time to work over a few things and get the body properly right for Super Rugby this year and that was the whole plan around not going on Spring Tour,\u201d he said to reporters.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-2425b0\">\u201cWe looked after the head but the hamstring was the main factor. [I] had a little strain from that first Argentina game up in Townsville and just lingered around for the next couple of months and never got better, unfortunately.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-2425b0\">&#8220;&#8230;It was probably one of the best years of my life, with what I was very fortunate to be able to play and feature in some of those Lions games and also feature heavily in the Reds season too. It was a great year for myself but being in and out of the squads and dealing through a few injuries, it was pretty tough to deal with, but I say it all the time, that&#8217;s Rugby.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-2425b0\">Lyngah has a documented history of head knocks, with the incident against the Lions his third of the year. The Reds fly-half was thought to have suffered a fourth against Los Pumas, with further testing clearing the son of Wallabies great Michael.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-2425b0\">The young playmaker praised the management of the issue whilst believing the extended time off with the hamstring injury will only help his return to play.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-2425b0\">\u201cI was very happy with the way I was managed,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-2425b0\">\u201cI think there&#8217;s a lot of protocols in place to make sure that we&#8217;re safe to return to play. We went through all those protocols and actually had a few injuries between those head knocks, too.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-2425b0\">\u201cIt was good to sort of take a bit of time off and really feel comfortable to get back in amongst it, which I am now\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-2425b0\">Lynagh&#8217;s goals remain on reclaiming his Wallabies starting gig, but first faces tough competition at Ballymore.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-2425b0\">It comes after the return of Carter Gordon to the 15-a-side game, whom Lynagh praised for his impact on the group as both chase the starting role ahead of next year&#8217;s World Cup.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-2425b0\">\u201cIt&#8217;s great to have Carter back in rugby. It&#8217;s even better to have him here at the Reds,&#8221; he believes.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-2425b0\">&#8220;He&#8217;s a great player and a great team man and just the insights that he&#8217;s already given us in the team meetings and on the field has been very valuable to everyone in the club<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-2425b0\">\u201cIt&#8217;s obviously great to have competition. It&#8217;s always great pushing each other to try and get that ten jersey. So that&#8217;s going to drive the whole club forward to be the best you can be.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-2425b0\">&#8220;&#8230;I&#8217;m sure it&#8217;s the same for everyone who plays in Australia to hold down that [flyhalf] jersey. It&#8217;s the ultimate goal.\u00a0There were quite a few injuries amongst all those 10s throughout the year and a lot of chopping and changing. You&#8217;ve got to play well at Super Rugby first to even be in with a chance of having that 10 jersey.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Queensland Reds and Wallabies flyhalf Tom Lynagh had put aside a tough injury run, confirming his readiness to&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":409649,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,12061,760,85,48013],"class_list":{"0":"post-409648","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-rugby","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-queensland-reds","11":"tag-rugby","12":"tag-sports","13":"tag-super-rugby-pacific"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/409648","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=409648"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/409648\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/409649"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=409648"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=409648"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=409648"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}