Alan Quinlan faces Lions ban after 'gouging' Leo Cullen

Alan Quinlan's place on the Lions tour is under threat after he was cited for alleged gouging during Munster's Heineken Cup defeat to Leinster.

However, South Africa have suffered their own blow with full-back Conrad Jantjes ruled out of the three-Test series after breaking his leg.

Quinlan has been ordered to appear before a European Rugby Cup disciplinary panel to explain the incident which left Leinster captain Leo Cullen with marks near his eyes.

The date for the hearing has yet to be fixed but if the flanker is banned - the minimum term is 12 weeks - Lions head coach Ian McGeechan is certain to call up Tom Croft, who starred as Leicester won the first penalty shoot-out in Heineken Cup history after their semi-final with Cardiff finished 26-26 after extratime.

While the incident involving Quinlan is a concern, the defeats for Munster and Cardiff mean that 12 of the Lions squad, including captain Paul O'Connell, will finish their club seasons earlier than expected.

Springboks coach Peter de Villiers is dealing with the loss of Jantjes and a whole host of other injury problems.

Jantjes broke his leg in a collision with Liam Messam 10 minutes into the Stormers' Super 14 defeat to the Chiefs in Cape Town. Stormers coach Rassie Erasmus said: "It seemed to me the leg was turned the wrong way round. His Lions tour is gone."

Flanker Schalk Burger is suffering a calf problem while centres Jean de Villiers (knee) and Adrian Jacobs (shoulder) missed the weekend's Super 14 action because of injury.

Meanwhile, an Achilles tendon problem could see fly-half Toby Flood miss Leicester's push for European and domestic honours plus England's summer Tests with Argentina and the Barbarians.

That could see Danny Cipriani earn a recall, if the London Wasps No10 delays his operation to remove a metal plate from his ankle.