Gatland even seemed biased against the Scottish doctor

SCOTTISH rugby fans the length and breadth of the country were left dumbfounded on Wednesday.

Warren Gatland announced his 2017 British & Irish Lions squad – and only two Scots were named in the group of 41.

That is a far cry to 1989, when I was one of the nine Scots out of 30 players chosen by coach, Ian McGeechan, also a Scot.

What followed was a series victory and a Grand Slam, and it is no co-incidence that both of Scotland’s most recent Grand Slams have followed a Lions tour with strong player representation.

But two players out of 41? Or to put it another way, less than 5% of the squad?

That’s just plain crazy or, as some have been suggesting, biased against a country that performed very well in the 6 Nations Championship.

Scotland defeated two countries who have far greater representation in the tour party – Wales and Ireland.

And the ‘anti-Scottish’ bias is not limited to players. Gatland has also chosen not to take James Robson, the doctor who has been on every Lions tour since 1993.

Discarding with such experience is just plain folly.

The selection was always going to be tough, yet it is Gatland’s selections that justify the outcry.

Jarred Payne, Dan Biggar, Ian Henderson and Ross Moriarty can consider themselves very fortunate in my opinion.

Biggar is clearly a Gatland favourite, chosen ahead of Finn Russell and George Ford. Payne could be replaced by either a fellow Irishman or Alex Dunbar.

Joe Launchbury and Jonny Gray must be scratching their heads as to how Henderson made it into the squad, and why Hamish Watson didn’t feature is beyond me, given how he took the Welsh back row apart in the match at Murrayfield.

Ian McLauchlan, Scotland’s mostsuccessful Lion, indicated that Gatland only knew the name of Stuart Hogg when he watched Scotland play.

Much has been made of Gregor Townsend’s reluctance to support the Lions coaching team. That is an irrelevance.

Gatland favours players from his own adopted country over others when marginal calls have to be made.

He also made the point that some were selected on the basis of their performance in one pressure game.

That favoured Henderson and Moriarty and discriminated against Scotland because of the Calcutta Cup match.

Touring New Zealand is not about one game – it’s about a series of matches – so he needs consistency in his players, something that Jonny Gray excels in.

I believe the coach has made a few big mistakes in his squad selection, and he will not be welcomed that warmly in Scotland.

But if he wins the series, we will all have to eat our words.

We shall see.