Scotland captain Greig Laidlaw is hopeful of returning to club duty with Gloucester in three to four weeks in a boost to his Lions hopes.
The influential 31-year-old scrum-half, who suffered ankle ligament damage against France in the Six Nations, had a successful surgery.
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“As long as I have no setbacks… as long as I keep progressing, I’ll be back as quick as I can,” he told BBC Sport in a major boost.
“I’m hoping in three to four weeks time to be back. I knew I’d done something bad when it happened. My foot wasn’t in a good position.
“I didn’t know the extent of the injury and sadly the scan showed I needed an operation but the scan also showed I had only done one ligament so I’m quite lucky in a sense,” concluded Laidlaw in determined fashion.