Barnes stormers... five Welsh heroes in Stuart’s Lions top ten
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His record as skipper of the British & Irish Lions reads one drawn series with the All Blacks in 2017 and a winning tour to Australia four years earlier.
On rugby leadership qualities alone, Sam Warburton would figure among many pundits’ lists when asked to name their top-10 Lions of all time.
But while naming five Welshmen in his 10 all-time greats, former England and Lions No.10 Stuart Barnes can’t find space for the ex-Welsh back-row talisman, despite his record as skipper on the last two tours standing up to the closest of scrutiny.
And for that matter the same could be said for his coach on those two tours in Warren Gatland, with the
Stuart Barnes’ top-10 Lions ranked:
1. Willie John McBride;
2. Sir Ian McGeechan;
3. Phil Bennett;
4. Gareth Edwards;
5. Tony O’Reilly;
6. Martin Johnson;
7. JPR Williams;
8. Jeremy Guscott;
9. Barry John;
10. Carwyn James. selection criteria not restricted to players only. The esteemed pundit and newspaper columnist has ranked his top-10 and there would be few complaints with the former Bath man having Willie John McBride as his No.1 choice.
And Sir Ian McGeechan’s coaching record and playing career sees the Scotsman coming in second.
On The Times website, Barnes has Phil Bennett as his greatest ever Welsh Lion, saying about the dazzling feet of the Llanelli No.10: “He danced his way through the tour of South Africa with barely a hand laid on him.
“This was the tour where – after his role in THAT Gareth Edwards try in 1973 – he side-stepped out of the laconic shadow of Barry John. Three years later he led the Lions in New Zealand but ‘74 alone ensures his immortality as a Lion.”
Edwards himself is named next in line, with Barnes going on to say: “Barry John was the genius in ‘71, Bennett scored 10 as a No.10 in 1974.
“What links these two greats is the man inside them, firing out the passes, taking the punishment (and making more than his share of their tackles), the greatest scrum-half of them all, Gareth Edwards.
“These were and remain the greatest of the Lions tours and Edwards was at its very epicentre.”
Barnes plumps for Irish wing Tony O’Reilly and England’s 2003 World Cup winning captain Martin Johnson, who led the Lions in 1997 and 2001, as his fifth and sixth picks before heading back to Wales and JPR Williams as his seventh choice.
“JPR’s soaring drop-kick is one of the most enduring of all Lions images – the kick that sealed a 14-14 draw and won the Lions their first ever series in New Zealand in 1971,” says Barnes.
“He was a rock on that tour, and three years later he played so hard and fast in South Africa that he was more asteroid.
“A man of bloody action.” England’s prince of centres and BBC pundit Jeremy Guscott comes in at No.8 before Barnes ends with two
Welshmen in Barry John and coaching innovator Carwyn James, who led the took charge of the Lions’ only series win in New Zealand back in 1971, being his 10th pick.
He said of John: “Sacrilege perhaps to have him as low as nine but the memories are so grainy, the footage so often the same stuff.
“The man of myth who glided through New Zealand, untouchable outside Gareth Edwards – 1968 was a less successful tour but he will always be remembered for ‘71.”
James he says was “the poet coach who plotted the Kiwi demise.
“They expected the usual European set-piece game and got a kaleidoscope coming at them from all angles,” he added.
“A fading footnote for some but to me James represents the very best of the Lions, winning against the odds but never looking as if it was at all costs. He made the Lions beautiful.”