Post Six Nations, and with the Lions tour coming up, here’s
my 37 man squad.
Props - Dan Cole, Alex
Corbisiero, Cian Healy, Gethin Jenkins, Adam Jones, Mike Ross
The main question with the props is how many the Lions will
take. If they decide to take five, then Paul James will really fancy his
chances. I’m backing the Lions to take six, in which case at Loosehead, Healy
and Jenkins are dead certainties. With two good players already in that
position, Alex Corbisiero, if he can get some game time before the end of the
season, is worth taking. At Tighthead, whatever passionate Welshmen say, Dan
Cole is the current starter with Adam Jones backing him up. I’m not massively
enthused about Mike Ross, but it’s him or part-timer Euan Murray and I’d rather
have Ross in the midweek team.
Hookers - Rory Best,
Dylan Hartley, Richard Hibbard
The main job for the hooker in a side which has so many back
row options should be to secure decent lineout ball, which is why Best and
Hartley are there. The third choice hooker could frankly be anyone, I’ve
plumped for Hibbard on the basis that the coach is the Welsh coach and Matthew
Rees is almost certainly going to be broken again.
Locks - Joe
Launchbery, Alun Wyn Jones, Geoff Parling, Donnacha Ryan
Parling was the best lock in the championship by a mile, and
will go. AWJ got a lot of press for a man who produced two good games, but he’s
also secure in selection. Ryan has a petulant streak in his game which needs
removing, but he’s also got the necessary talent to make the squad. The fourth
lock hopefully the Lions will take the punt on Launchbery, leaving Mike
McCarthy wondering how he’s at home and Hibbard isn’t.
Back Row - Kelly Brown,
Toby Faletau, Jamie Heaslip, Ryan Jones, Chris Robshaw, Justin Tipuric, Sam
Warburton, Tom Wood
The main area of contention, with a list of around 15
players who can make a case for going, yet a large number of those will not. To
start with, given the strength in depth, I’m ignoring Steven Ferris and Ross
Rennie due to their injury concerns, and Dan Lydiate due to both his injury
concerns and the fact he is massively overrated, a problem which also rules out
Tom Croft.
The fact is, Tipuric, Warburton, Robshaw and Wood should and
will all go. So would Ben Morgan had he not got injured. Number eight is
somewhat of a problem area not due to talent but form, with Faletau not exactly
setting the world alight and Jamie Heaslip struggling with the weight of captaining
a rapidly declining team. Jonnie Beattie is not real competition and Morgan’s
injury however sends them on the tour. The two remaining spots go to two old
timers, Kelly Brown and Ryan Jones. Both are unflashy players who do the right
things, Brown helped by coming through a Saracens environment that demands the
best from them. Jones does seem like a bit of a left field selection but he can
also play in the second row. Sean O’Brien doesn’t go on the basis that if you
doubled his IQ he’d still be an idiot and Chris Henry got injured at a bad
time.
Scrum-Halfs - Conor
Murray, Mike Phillips, Ben Youngs
Phillips and Youngs should both be fairly confident of
selection, although I have a nasty feeling Gatland and Howley might fancy a bit
of Danny Care. Murray, Laidlaw and Care are all at roughly the same level, but
the Welsh philosophy seems to be with players of equal ability pick the biggest
one and that’s why Murray will tour.
Fly-Halfs - Owen
Farrell, James Hook, Jonny Sexton
Ireland were pretty good when Jonny Sexton played, and awful
when he didn’t. Farrell will prove to be a solid back up but lacks the running
game to challenge Sexton, unless Sexton’s injury rules him out of the tour. Due
to the limits of squad size, the third fly-half will be James Hook. He’s
playing well in France and can cover a multitude of positions, which given I’ve
only got two full-backs I need.
Centres - Jonathan
Davies, Luke Marshall, Brian O’Driscoll, Jamie Roberts
I typed Jamie Roberts name, thought for some time, typed
Brian O’Driscoll’s name, and then thought for a hell of a long time. This is a
position of surprising weakness, due to the fact that so many of the centres
playing for the home nations are highly one dimentional. I think Jonathan
Davies had a quietly awful tournament for Wales, where he did nothing
particularly well and was covered by his inside partner, but he was excellent
last year so he has cash in the bank. The final centre is a nightmare. Brad Barritt
can tackle and organise, but offers nothing in attack. Manu Tuilagi divides
opinion massively but even as a big fan I can admit he is a black hole in terms
of passing the ball. Luke Marshall has had a good season for Ulster, has a
reasonable eye for a break and was unlucky to get knocked unconscious twice.
Max Scott looks a decent player but the tour has come maybe 12 months too
early.
Wingers - Alex
Cuthbert, Craig Gilroy, Sean Maitland, George North
Tommy Bowe’s injury casts a big shadow here, because he was
an absolutely certain starter and the only winger with previous Lions
experience. North would have to lose form quite spectacularly to not start, but
after that it’s a fairly open race. Cuthbert is a deadly finisher but he
creates tries at both ends of the field, and whoever starts right wing has to
deal with Digby Ioane. That said, Cuthbert is favourite to start ahead of the
exciting Gilroy, and the solid Maitland. Chris Ashton will not go, due to both
form and personality and Tim Visser is another player whose one-dimensional
game will count against him.
Full-backs - Leigh
Halfpenny, Stuart Hogg
This could be a closer battle for the shirt than people
think, and would be closer if Halfpenny wasn’t such a fantastic goal kicker.
Halfpenny is defensively superb but people tend to overlook his weakness is
joining the line and broken field running. That is not a problem for Stuart
Hogg, who not only is a good player but made sure he had good games when people
were watching and a bad one when no-one cared (he was rubbish in Paris).
Halfpenny will start the first Test but if Cuthbert struggles early on the tour
don’t be surprised if the Lions try Halfpenny on the wing with Hogg at
full-back.
Team for 1st Test and Captain
Cian Healy, Dylan Hartley, Dan Cole, Alun Wyn Jones, Geoff
Parling, Sam Warburton, Justin Tipuric, Toby Faletau, Mike Phillips, Jonny
Sexton, George North, Jamie Roberts, Brian O’Driscoll (c), Alex Cuthbert, Leigh
Halfpenny
Some of these selections will be obvious from the comments above,
but I’ll explain some. At hooker, I think if Gatland and Hartley can get over
their previous bad blood, they will find that Gatland is the perfect coach for
Hartley and that will push him ahead of Best. In the back-row, Robshaw and Wood
will be extremely unfortunate to miss out but Warburton and Tipuric worked so
spectacularly well for Wales against England that it would appear to be the
best combination at this point in time, particularly as Wood struggled with the
technical aspects of number eight throughout the tournament (Wood struck me as
an outstanding blindside trying to play eight throughout the tournament)
The backs are fairly clean cut, but the selection of
O’Driscoll as captain is based on the view that Gatland will want to avoid
picking a polairising choice as captain. If he chooses Warburton or Robshaw,
that is going to annoy one nation of players either way, and given that
supposedly some of the Englishmen are already a bit uncertain about Gatland he
doesn’t want to get off on the wrong foot. O’Driscoll has been on good tours
and bad tours, and will understand the importance of all nations pulling
together.
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