Backs:
Dan Biggar (Wales), Elliot Daly (England), Jonathan Davies (Wales), Owen Farrell (England), Leigh Halfpenny (Wales), Robbie Henshaw (Ireland), Stuart Hogg (Scotland), Jonathan Joseph (England), Conor Murray (Ireland), George North (Wales), Jack Nowell (England), Jared Payne (Ireland), Jonathan Sexton (Ireland), Tommy Seymour (Scotland), Ben Te'o (England), Anthony Watson (England), Rhys Webb (Wales), Liam Williams (Wales), Ben Youngs (England) Forwards: Rory Best (Ireland), Dan Cole (England), Taulupe Faletau (Wales), Tadhg Furlong (Ireland), Jamie George (England), Iain Henderson (Ireland), Maro Itoje (England), Alun Wyn Jones (Wales), George Kruis (England), Courtney Lawes (England), Joe Marler (England), Jack McGrath (Ireland), Ross Moriarty (Wales), Sean O'Brien (Ireland), Peter O'Mahony (Ireland), Ken Owens (Wales), Kyle Sinckler (England), CJ Stander (Ireland), Justin Tipuric (Wales), Billy Vunipola (England), Mako Vunipola (England), Sam Warburton (Wales) Yesterday was the day that British players, fans and coaches alike have been waiting for. The announcement of the British & Irish Lions squad that will your New Zealand later this year. Every player that could be selected will have been waiting eagerly for that letter, phone call, or tweet that saw them selected. So, above is the squad that will take on the winner's of the last two Rugby World Cup's. A tall task to begin with, but could it be taller with a number of major absences. Let's begin to dissect this squad then.
Firstly, will go with the captain. And for a second tour running, Sam Warburton has that pleasure. Now remember, 4 years ago, he became the first Lions captain to successfully win a tour since 1997, so he had done the job well before. But has he done anything in the last four years to warrant a second calling? Not hugely in my opinion. He doesn't even captain his national team anymore. Alun Wyn Jones has taken that position off his hands (as he did when injured in the 2013 Lions tour). I'm not even sure he would be in my starting line-up. With O'Brien and CJ Stander there, they would be my starting flankers.
The captaincy should really be between the players already in the same position for their country. So you're looking at Dylan Hartley, Greg Laidlaw, Rory Best and Alun Wyn Jones. Without looking at whether they have now been selected or not, you would have to then look at whether those four will be likely to start. Laidlaw, no, due to Conor Murray being in his way. Both Hartley and Best play hooker, and you probably couldn't comfortably choose one over the other to start every game. So that leaves Jones, who I would have as my starting lock, alongside Maro Itoje. So he will be starting, but is also a leader and a player who has been there and done it. I couldn't see passed him as the choice. I'm not going to even entertain the notion that people thought Farrell could have been skipper.
On a similar subject, Dylan Hartley. The man who has led England to back-to-back Six Nations titles. The man who won a Grand Slam Six Nations. The man who took England Down Under and brought them back with a whitewash series victory. This man was deemed not good enough for the Lions squad. It brings up the unflattering record that no England captain at the time of tour selection has participated in the last three Lions' Tour (Hartley 2017, Robshaw 2013 & Borthwick 2009). Right now, it is a curse to be England captain if you wish to be involved in the squad.
It's probably more of a kick in the teeth for Hartley when Jamie George, a good young player who is only good enough for England's bench, is selected in front of him. Hartley has been a revelation for England. I, for one, did not rate him as a captain when Eddie Jones first appointed him, and really struggled to see him as an influential player for the national side. He has completely changed my opinion of him, and to see him left is just baffling to me. But now to the real problem in this team. You may have noticed it already if you've gone through the squad above. * England: 16 players * Wales: 12 players * Ireland: 11 players * Scotland: 2 players
Warren Garland, who appears to be sleeping with the entire Wales squad, has selected only TWO SCOTLAND PLAYERS!! Scotland, arguably, played some of the best rugby from the home nations during the latest Six Nations and currently sit fifth in the world, three places ahead of the Welsh. How can it possibly be justified that he selected 10 more players from a team that have struggled recently and not from a team that has been in great form and we're possibly one game away from winning the last Six Nations? It's as if Gatland has said to the Welsh players, "guys, don't worry, rest yourselves. I'll be picking you anyway." I think it's incredibly disrespectful to Scotland as a whole that they play as well as they have done in the last couple of years and Warren Gatland, the Kiwi-Welshman, can only find two players that he thinks are worthy of a place in the team. I can think of several players that will feel and injustice in not being picked from Scotland. Tim Visser. Huw Jones. Finn Russell. Greg Laidlaw. Gordon Reid. The Gray Brothers. Hamish Watson. Ryan Wilson. All players that could have argued a place in the team.
Farrell should be counted as a centre as that will most likely be his starting position in the team, so that leaves you with Sexton and the dancing, twitching Dan Biggar. Dan Biggar ahead of Finn Russell? Sexton is a better all round fly-half and George Ford is probably a more solid number 10. But I think that Russell is the most creative out of the bunch. He was a breath of fresh air to the Scotland team. Scotland haven't had a top fly-half for years. Yet Dan Biggar, who spends more time checking his hair on the big screen and arguing with the ref, gets in.
I would feel a great deal of anger if I was any one of those players, or any of the Coach's staff, including Vern Cotter. He has made these players Athletes that can compete with teams at the top of their game, but their not good enough to be in a squad ahead of some players who struggled to perform throughout their latest tournament. On the amount of Welsh players, it's not just the Scotland players that will feel hard done by. There are plenty of players sat at home from Ireland and England, even if they do have 16 players going, who will feel equally aggrieved. James Haskell. Chris Robshaw. Joe Launchbury. Donnacha Ryan. Mike Brown. Simon Zebo. Keith Earls. They all have had a great Six Nations campaign and a great autumn series, something Wales couldn't match.
Gatland has come out and defended this decision saying, "I didn't realise the split in numbers." I don't believe that. You can argue a case that because Warren has worked with the Welsh as their head coach for a decade that he trusts many of their players, and clearly the 12 he has picked. But they aren't players in form. The finished fifth only in front of Italy at the last Six Nations. They have dropped to eighth in the world and will need a big surge of results to gain any places in the coming year. Scotland have famously not had many players go on Lions Tours, but usually this has been because of a lack in form and, honestly, players simply not being good enough. But this time the players are good enough AND in form and still only two made the cut. I fear that their past is affecting the present thoughts on them. Ultimately, I think there is still a good squad going to New Zealand. The starting team is roughly as I would have had it prior to the squad selection. I just feel that it isn't truly representative of the BRITISH & Irish Lions. Will this squad still be good enough to beat the All Blacks? I fear not.
