JONES PICKS SCARLET ACES IN LIONS SIDE
ADAM Jones has named two Scarlets in the Lions XV he feels Warren Gatland should pick to beat South Africa this summer.
The former Wales tighthead believes Jonathan Davies and Liam Williams – veterans of previous Lions trips – are in pole position to start for Gatland again.
Jones was part of the Lions team involved in the epic showdown with the Springboks in 2009, the year he famously tamed ‘ The Beast’ Tendai Mtawarira.
And even though the world champions have fearsome forward power again, Jones believes his old boss Gatland has more than enough firepower of his own to match them.
In a side that has a split of six England players, six from Wales, two from Scotland and Robbie Henshaw as a lone Irishman, the prop legend chooses his old Welsh and Ospreys skipper Alun Wyn Jones as captain.
He feels the experience of Justin Tipuric and Taulupe Faletau is vital in the back row, picking England’s dynamic flanker Tom Curry with them at six.
Three Welsh players also make the cut in the backline, the experienced duo of Williams and Davies backed up by the youth and vibrancy of Tomos Williams at scrum-half.
“For Warren Gatland it’ll be like playing Football Manager with an unlimited budget,” Jones told the Mail. “South Africa will be really good, too, so it’ll be a heck of a tour.”
Jones won five Lions Test caps on the tours to South Africa in 2009 and the victory over Australia four years later.
ADAM Jones’s Lions XV: Liam Williams ( Wales); Jonny May (England), Jonathan Davies ( Wales), Robbie Henshaw (Ireland), Duhan van der Merwe (Scotland); Owen Farrell (England), Tomos Williams ( Wales); Rory Sutherland (Scotland), Jamie George (England), Kyle Sinckler (England), Maro Itoje (England), Alun Wyn Jones ( Wales, capt), Tom Curry (England), Taulupe Faletau ( Wales), Justin Tipuric ( Wales).