Lions head coach Warren Gatland says that injured captain Alun Wyn Jones hasn't given up hope of playing in the test series against South Africa despite being left at home.

Jones, who was handed the captaincy ahead of a fourth tour, dislocated his shoulder in the warm-up game against Japan in Murrayfield, after which Gatland called up Welsh second row Adam Beard as a replacement.

It was thought that Jones' tour was over, especially after Conor Murray was named the new captain, but speaking to the media in South Africa, Gatland revealed that the Wales lock hasn't given up hope of making an appearance in South Africa later in the tour.

"Given his age, they think that they could potentially take a few shortcuts, more than you would do with a young player, if he picked up this type of injury at the start of his career," Gatland said.

"He's kind of optimistic that a miracle may happen, and then he can get himself right. We're just going to assess it and see how the next couple of weeks goes. I think the specialist said, when he had to look at it, that it wasn't quite as bad as he thought it would be.

"But not good enough, obviously, to come on tour to start with, and, and we needed a replacement otherwise we would have put too much pressure on him and the other second rows.

"We're going to monitor that and as we come towards the end of the tour, or if we pick up an injury and he's making amazing progress, something can happen - you never know. So it's kind of one of those just wait and see situations."

The Lions travelled to South Africa this week and will have their first game on opposition soil on Saturday evening when they take on the Gauteng Lions in Johannesburg.