Diamond: Lions squad is spot on
SALE Sharks boss Steve Diamond understands why Warren Gatland left English captain Dylan Hartley out of the British & Irish Lions squad.
Sale’s potential wildcard pick Denny Solomona was also snubbed for the tour.
But Diamond says that, although Hartley will be among multiple disappointed players, Gatland has picked a similar squad to what he would have done.
He said: “It looks about right to me, it’s a good squad. I’m not really surprised about Dylan Hartley’s omission. I think Hartley plays well for England but he’s maybe not what they want.
“They’ll probably want someone who is a bit more energetic. He’s still a very good player. I don’t think it’ll just be Dylan who is disappointed, there’ll be many.
“It all comes down to them prelim games and then their first Test. New Zealand just keep churning out the players, it’s going to be a fantastic watch.
“Our players were gripped yesterday morning when it was announced. There was silence in the room.
“Mike Phillips kept jumping up thinking he was going to get a game! I think it’s still a really good thing.”
The Lions face a gruelling schedule on this summer’s tour, including facing all five of New Zealand’s Super Rugby representatives and the Maori All Blacks as well as the Tests against New Zealand themselves.
The difficulty of their fixtures has drawn criticism from the home nations, with many believing it hampers the Lions’ chances of completing a famous tour win Down Under. But Diamond has no doubt the home nations will be able to handle the tough fixture list.
“When you pull the team from four nations you’ve got to have some game time,” he said.
“I don’t think three or four games is enough, I think they’ll cope with it, they always have done.”
Sale’s squad will be keenly watching another squad announcement today as Eddie Jones releases the England squad to face the Barbarians and Argentina this summer. Josh Beaumont, Will Addison, Mike Haley, Sam James and the Curry twins are among the Sharks’ England hopefuls, and Diamond thinks they will have at least a couple of representatives in today’s squad announcement.
He said: “Fingers crossed we get one or two players in it. Players individually are playing well but as a team we are not playing particularly well. If he’s looking to give experience you’d think he’d look at one or two of ours.”