AlunWyn still the favourite for Lions skipper –Wallace
ALUN Wyn Jones is STILL favourite to skipper the Lions in New Zealand this summer, despite the controversy over the goal-kicking chance Wales turned down in their demoralising RBS 6 Nations defeat to Scotland.
So reckons Paul Wallace, a member of the triumphant Lions squad that toured South Africa in 1997 and these days a respected rugby pundit.
The former Ireland prop does not believe the episode that saw Wales kick to touch instead of at goal from a penalty in the 51st minute against the Scots, with Leigh Halfpenny declining the shot at the posts despite it being skipper Jones’s preferred option, will have a serious bearing on who should wear the armband in New Zealand.
“Alun Wyn Jones is still favourite for the Lions captaincy,” said Wallace. “I don’t think too much should be read into the business at the weekend.
“Sometimes a decision like that will go your way, other times it won’t. The margins are fine: if the play comes off, everyone praises the captain; if it doesn’t everyone criticises.
“My own view is that a skipper should always consult his kicker.
“I don’t know exactly what went on in this instance, but I don’t think one decision makes a good or bad captain either way.
“Warren Gatland will know Alun Wyn Jones’s personality and what he is capable of as a leader.
“Wales are having a tough campaign, but I thought Jones was outstanding in a playing sense during the November Tests.
“Dylan Hartley hasn’t really come to the fore and Rory Best will probably feel he needs to do a bit more.
“I’m not saying it is a done deal, because things can change in the final two weeks of a Six Nations.
“But, at this point, Jones is probably the one who is just ahead.”
Wales have a chance to atone for their Murrayfield misadventure when they face Ireland in Cardiff a week on Friday.
The match will be a huge one for Rob Howley and his squad, not least because they have to secure a win from one of their last two games of the championship — they play France in Paris on March 18 — to avoid dropping out of the top eight in the global rugby rankings and ending up in yet another World Cup pool of death.
But Wallace believes Wales are not far from getting it right, but acknowledges they are a team in transition.
“They are in a rebuilding phase,” he said.
“Some experienced players have left the picture in recent years, like Adam Jones and Richard Hibbard in the front row, while Gethin Jenkins isn’t getting any younger.
“Have they missed Jenkins in this Six Nations?
“I would say they have, because his tackling and work-rate generally are huge, while every side needs leaders and he has long been one for Wales.
“They have four good young props, but none of them looks a Lions Test player at this stage.
“Little things, such as Taulupe Faletau not playing much rugby throughout the season and individual players having defensive lapses, seem to have worked against this Welsh side.
“But they will know what Ireland are about through facing their players in the Pro12, and the same applies the other way of course.
“There is still time for players on both sides to put their hands up for the Lions.
“You take someone like George North. We all know the potential he has. He is big and powerful and in the opening Test against New Zealand last summer he was excellent. “But he needs to up the ante. “The last week of the Six Nations is probably the most important of the lot in terms of Lions selection.
“If someone puts in a massive performance, it might just be enough to swing a place.”
2/1 A W Jones; 9/4 R Best; 4/1 S Warburton; 11/2 D Hartley; 6/1 C Murray, O Farrell; 12/1 M Itoje.