Lions from winter can roar in 2021
WHEN the final curtain came down on a nip-and-tuck Six Nations tournament last night – which ended in Warren Gatland’s third Welsh Grand Slam – there was a little over two years to go until the 2021 Lions tour of South Africa.
It means that at this juncture a couple of years from now the debate over Lions selection for the tour will be in full spate.
We decided to initiate that debate by using the evidence of the current Six Nations as a form guide to select a starting 15 if the Lions had to play the Springboks this summer.
Inevitably injuries and fluctuations in form will have a bearing on selection between now and the 2021 tour. However, there is every reason to believe that the starting team picked here from the three main protagonists for the title this season – Wales, England and Ireland – would have the firepower to beat South Africa.
It worth reflecting that the fierce competition for primacy in this edition of the Six Nations was expected to extend beyond those three sides. An improved Scotland team and a heavyweight French outfit were both thought to be capable of competing.
Instead, what we had was more than a hint of a two-speed tournament, with Scotland as well as France and Italy, adrift of the standards being attained by the Welsh, English and Irish.
Wales in particular have shown a tactical nous, allied to the stonewall defensive system put in place by Shaun Edwards, that clinches big games – and it has given them the edge over England and Ireland on the pitch, and in this selection.
On the evidence of this campaign Scottish representation in the Lions remains a thorny issue, just as it was on the 2017 New Zealand tour. The Scots have struggled for a player in the starting 23 over the course of this tournament, but their second-half fireworks against England suggested they could change that over the next two seasons.
Finn Russell, Ali Price, Stuart Hogg and openside Hamish Watson will all be in the frame if they can find the consistency to match the undoubted talent that almost unraveled England at Twickenham.
Although it was widely anticipated at the start of the tournament that Scotland had made significant enough gains in the autumn to be a title contender, their home defeat by Ireland – plus a debilitating injury count – left them struggling.
As for France and Italy, if this had been a team of the Six Nations, rather than a Lions Test side, neither of those countries would have had a single player in contention in the starting 23.
Having suffered their 21st successive Six Nations defeat at Twickenham, Italy’s credentials are increasingly threadbare.
Meanwhile, France’s inability to mount a competitive challenge for a Championship title they have won just once in the last decade (2010), is a clear register of their decline as a leading international force.
With the exception of their abrasive lock/blindside Arthur Iturria, and beleaguered captain Guilhem Guirado, the French appear to have had their passion doused at Test level, and their veteran coach Jacques Brunel does not seem to have the wherewithal to reignite it.
In terms of selection criteria no-one was considered for this proto-Lions side if they did not play at least two games.
This ruled out Mako Vunipola, whose exceptional form for England until the ankle injury he sustained against France would have made him the front-runner to reclaim his 2017 Lions starting berth at loosehead. The same applied to his
“The starting team picked here would have the firepower to beat South Africa”
England team-mate Maro Itoje, who did not appear again after being injured in the opener against Ireland.
It also precluded the claims of Scottish openside Watson, whose firecracker return in the last two rounds showed just how influential he can be.
Last but not least it put Joe Cokanasiga out of contention, because other than bit parts off the bench, his only proper run out for England was laying an impresive part in overwhelming Italy.
If the Lions claim to be ‘the best of the best’ is to be upheld then theres no room for the horse-trading in selection that has dogged previous tours, so there has been none here.
Those selected won their places through their ability on the field over the course of the 2019 Six Nations, irrespective of which country they played for.