11 IRISHMEN TO MAKE LIONS ROAR
Few complaints here at Warren Gatland’s selection but Ringrose and Ryan unlucky to miss out
IRISH rugby can be happy with Warren Gatland’s latest pride, 11 inclusions being this country’s joint second highest representation since the sport went professional over 20 years ago. Five of the six previous professional-era Lions tours featured squads dominated by the leading team in that spring’s Six Nations. The only anomaly was Clive Woodward’s red rose-tinted largesse in 2005, a time when Grand Slam-winning Wales were Europe’s dominant force and weren’t shy when complaining about perceived bias.
When we sat down on Tuesday to pick a 2017 squad of 38 (the size Gatland had indicated he was aiming for), the anticipated carve-up was England 13, Wales 12, Ireland 11 and Scotland two.
Those figures were indeed correct for Wales, Ireland and Scotland, while England became beneficiaries of Gatland’s decision to travel with a squad of 41 as he handed the extra three plane tickets to the back-to-back Six Nations champions.
It sounds a fair share-out, with Wales’ better total than Ireland attributable to both Gatland’s understandable leanings towards the country he has coached since 2008 and a reflection of the convincing three-tries-to-nil job the Welsh did on Ireland in their championship encounter in Cardiff.
Gatland likes his power players. Always has. And this preference is clearly reflected by some of the Irish names who didn’t make the cut. The inability of Simon Zebo and Keith Earls to put a halt to George North’s gallop when scoring the opening try six weeks ago must have been a black mark against the Irish duo, despite their previous Lions exposure.
In total, there are just four Irish backs among the allocated 19 Lions spots, a reflection of the general air of defensive inconsistency out wide and limited attacking width which rendered them a mid-table spring outfit rather than a team which lived up to its favourites tag following the seminal November win over New Zealand.
Given this backline weakness, 11 Irish picks in a squad of 41 is a healthy number. Seven of them are new to this level — Johnny Sexton, Conor Murray, Seán O’Brien and Rory Best are repeat selections.
The total matches the Irish level of representation from 2005, when they also finished third in the championship, and is three less than the 14 in 2009 — a record — which came after they won the Grand Slam.
However, rather than this selection putting an end to the debate regarding who should travel, it simply fuelled the analysis as to why one particular player was included and another ignored.
Take the curious case of the identity of Gatland’s five second-rows. Iain Henderson got the nod while there was a snub for Donnacha Ryan, who would have been viewed as the more in-form Ireland lock.
Henderson, who can cover No 6, understandably had hopes of tour selection in the back of his mind when planning his wedding, which — just in case — takes place on the Friday after the tour.
Yet while he finished his championship with a try-scoring display against England, his inconsistency had earlier seen him lose his place to the more combative Ryan who can feel hard done-by, particularly as George Kruis, only just back for Saracens following long-term injury, was included despite his lack of Test form.
The Munster-Saracens divvy-up — three-six in favour of the Londoners — will surely add spice to Saturday’s Champions Cup semifinal. However, the province will have also breathed a huge sigh of relief that both South African CJ Stander and Cork’s Peter O’Mahony were included by Gatland, rather than just Stander, as had been the situation with Ireland until injury opened the door for O’Mahony to start against England.
Back-row awkwardness, with one elated, and one disappointed, would have been the last thing Munster needed preparing for Dublin.
The IRFU, too, will be pleased as Gatland’s surprise inclusion of Kiwi Jared Payne, along with Stander, is a vindication of their active pursuit of overseas players to qualify for Ireland under the three-year residency rule.
Payne is the Irish tour bolter, his unavailability for four Six Nations rounds meaning his name didn’t at all figure amid the pre-tour selection speculation.
But his flexibility and more seasoned defensive attributes ensured he was noticed in the same way young Garry Ringrose unfortunately wasn’t. So Leinster provide just five picks — Jack McGrath, Tadhg Furlong, O’Brien, Sexton and Robbie Henshaw — after injured two-time Lions Jamie Heaslip and Rob Kearney were discounted.
The most relieved of the Irish 11 will be Test skipper Rory Best, as it would have been an injustice had Dylan Hartley ambushed him in the pecking order. Not going, though, isn’t yet the end of the world. Any Irish player left disappointed only has to look at the crazy tale of Tom Court’s call-up four years ago to realise anything is possible in the weeks and months ahead.
Gatland’s choices can also have a positive Ireland sequel. The nonavailability of Murray, Sexton, Best, Furlong, Payne and Henshaw will allow Joe Schmidt scope to assess depth on tour in USA and Japan in key positions where previously there was reticence to do so.
This leave to experiment will be appreciated. So too the exciting prospect of having the likes of McGrath, Furlong and others back in November not only as Lions tourists, but potentially Lions Test players.
That’s a win-win situation after a pleasing Wednesday in London.