On 21 April 2009, Fitzgerald was named as a member of the British & Irish Lions for the 2009 tour to South Africa and made his test debut on 27 June against South Africa, during which he was eye-gouged by Schalk Burger. Burger was yellow-carded for the incident, and was subsequently banned for eight weeks for "making contact with the face in the eye area." He was however cleared of gouging, as his action was found to be "reckless" but not intentional.