Lions pride... are they REALLY good enough to see off All Blacks in their own back yard?

FORMER Glamorgan coach and player John Derrick has died, aged 54, after a battle with a brain tumour.

The Welshman was a successful coach for the county, leading them to two National League One-Day trophies in 2002 and 2004, as well as a promotion to Division One of the County Championship.

The one-day titles in 2002 and 2004, plus the appearance at Twenty20 Finals Day in the latter summer at Edgbaston, were a worthy reward for John, who previously had been the assistant to Duncan Fletcher when the Club won the County Championship title in 1997.

‘JD,’ as he known to all in cricket circles, also spent a series of summers overseeing the development of a host of young players in the county’s 2nd XI, besides instilling in them the pride of playing for the daffodil county as well as the other expectations and duties as a professional cricketer with his beloved Glamorgan CCC.

He was also a fine all-rounder, playing for the county throughout the 1980s. He recorded a top score of 78 not out with the bat and best figures of 6/54 with the ball.

Most recently he worked with Cricket Wales.

He was appointed National Performance Director of the Cricket Board of Wales in 2010 and was dedicated to enhancing young Welsh cricket talent, until he suffered a stroke and was diagnosed with a brain tumour in August last year.

He underwent brain surgery and chemotherapy in 2016 but, sadly, his passing was announced yesterday.

“John Derrick was one of my closest friends in the game,” said Hugh Morris Glamorgan Chief Executive.

“We started playing together for Welsh Schools at U15 level and were roommates in our early years at Glamorgan.

“He was always a hugely popular member of the dressing room and universally liked throughout the game.

“He enjoyed a successful playing career and became an outstanding coach, being seen by many Glamorgan players past and present as an inspirational figure in their careers. John was a great servant to cricket in Wales both on and off the field and will be sadly missed by us all.”

Cricket Wales Chief Executive Peter Hybart added, “JD was an inspiration to young men, women and parents as they followed their dream of representing Wales age-groups, Glamorgan and England.

“He had an unrivalled passion for cricket at all levels throughout the length and breadth of Wales and will be so sadly missed by the whole Welsh cricket family.” IT’S a question that will soon be occupying rugby pundits and punters the world over: just how do the Lions and New Zealand measure up against one another?

Given that the Lions squad has yet to be chosen never mind the starting line-up for the first Test, we are forced to make assumptions at present about the tourists’ respective strengths and weaknesses.

There’s also nothing certain about the All Black selection.

Yet it’s not difficult to come up with two XVs that, even if they do not end up being the exact selections contain players who, fitness permitting, are almost guaranteed to be involved.

That’s what we’ve done here. The New Zealand Herald compared two speculative line-ups, so we thought we’d take their guidance on the Kiwi choices and virtually all the Lions ones, save for shoving in Maro Itoje at lock instead of Courtney Lawes, and CJ Stander on the blindside flank rather than Peter O’Mahoney.

So how DO they both measure up? We’ve marked the men in each position out of 10.