The ideal blend of kids and veterans

Lions tours can be a mixed blessing but Eddie Jones has turned everything to his advantage with this exciting and clever England squad. There is extreme youth; players who have been putting in the hard yards in the Premiership; left-field selections such as Auckland Blues fly-half Piers Francis; a former rugby league star in Denny solomona; and then several of the squad who helped England on their record-equalling run of 18 straight wins. it’s a hungry group. Eddie is putting pressure on the England players who have been picked for the Lions. There will be players in new Zealand this summer wondering how their opposite number is doing in Argentina. Eddie said: ‘if i can develop three or four to be better than the Lions guys, it will be a successful tour.’ Brilliant. in 2001, when 20 Englishmen went with the Lions to Australia, i took a young squad to north America to play Canada and the UsA. The likes of Josh Lewsey, Lewis Moody, steve Borthwick and Ben Kay kicked on after that tour. Don’t underestimate the benefit of Jones just getting the chance to eyeball his young players. it was clear Dylan Hartley must lead and i note the only back-up at hooker is Luke Cowan-Dickie — a hint for Warren Gatland to keep his hands off if there are injuries in new Zealand. nice try, but that’s not how it works! There are so many untested talents. The Curry twins from sale have enjoyed a terrific first season of senior rugby and look like natural opensides, a position England need to fill. The backs could be wonderful to watch if they click. solomona has shown he can score tries. His sale colleague sam James gets better with every game at centre, i want to see Alex Lozowski get a real run in the side, London irish wing Joe Cokanasiga looks promising and Harry Mallinder has impressed this year. Just one negative note. Christian Wade’s non-selection continues to astound me. His defence has improved but who cares about that? Wade scores tries beyond the compass of even some world-class wings. i badly want to see him given a chance.