Scots have every right to be riled by Gatland

WARREN Gatland has walked into a tornado of recrimination after his decision to call up four Wales players into the Lions squad.

The incomers include scrum-half Gareth Davies and tight-head Thomas Francis, neither of whom will raise many eyebrows. However, the inclusion of lock Corey Hill and hooker Kristian Dacey – who made his starting debut for Wales against Tonga on Friday night – is far more contentious.

With the Scots – who are a short flight away across the Tasman – already smarting at their tiny allocation in the original 41-man squad they will be up in arms about hooker Fraser Brown and lock Jonny Gray being passed over for much less experienced Welsh players.

Both forwards played throughout a Six Nations in which Scotland beat Wales and finished above them, and call-ups for fly-half Finn Russell and loose-head Allan Dell are unlikely to mollify them.

England coach Eddie Jones was also critical of Gatland’s decision not to continue selecting the Lions on a meritocratic basis. However, given that the flight from Argentina is a minimum 16 hours for England players, and 13 hours for Ireland players from Japan, Gatland’s decision to take a pragmatic approach is understandable – especially after the England contingent called in from Argentina for a 2013 match against the Brumbies struggled.

The reality is that England players like Dylan Hartley, Joe Launchbury and George Ford would not arrive in New Zealand in time to take part in the training for the Chiefs game on Tuesday, and that would leave them with only the game against the Hurricanes a week later.

However, where a case can be made for leaning towards practicality against merit where England and Ireland are concerned, the same cannot be said for ignoring Scottish players. And their win over Australia will only compound the sense of injustice.