A COFFEE IN THE CAR – HOW WYN FOUND OUT HE WOULD BE A LION
WALES and Scarlets prop Wyn Jones discovered he will be heading to South Africa as a British and Irish Lion this summer while on his own with a takeaway coffee in his car.
The in-form prop of the Six Nations dashed from a Scarlets training session – skipping a trip to the showers – to make sure he could watch the official announcement live.
“It’s slightly surreal,” he told Sky Sports after the unveiling.
“I literally just jumped in the car, didn’t even shower, went to grab a takeaway coffee and watched it in the car on my own.
“I didn’t quite have time to get home so I just watched it on my own there.
“Just watching the video and finding out in that manner is quite nervewracking.
“You just wait for your name to be called out, if it was to be called out.
“It’s one of them things where, there’s nothing more you can do at this point but obviously it’s a great privilege to be named.
“I’m obviously chuffed to bits and can’t wait to get involved.
“To be named in the Lions is a massive thing for myself and it probably hasn’t quite sunk in yet.”
Known in the Llandovery locality by the name Wyn Clynmawr – from the farm outside the town which has been in his family’s hands for generations – Jones has been turning in storming displays for region and country, particularly during the Six Nations when his hard scrummaging came to the fore.
The former Llandovery prop, who spent years learning his trade in the Welsh Premiership before turning professional, is one of four Scarlets to be named in Warren Gatland’s Lions squad, featuring alongside hooker Ken Owens, full-back Liam Williams and scrum-half Gareth Davies.
Hendy flyer Josh Adams has also made the touring party.
Davies will battle it out with Scot
land’s Ali Price and Ireland’s Conor Murray for the No. 9 shirt.
It will be Davies’s second stint on a Lions tour, although it is the first time he has been called up from the start.
He was part of the controversial Geography Six in 2017 – a group of players which Warren Gatland drafted in from Wales and Scotland’s southern hemisphere tours as temporary cover during the Lions trip to New Zealand.
Asked if that experience would motivate Davies to perform and put his stamp on being a Lion all the more, backs coach Gregor Townsend said: “Yeah, I imagine so.
“I think the motivation to play for the Lions is really strong throughout all the players that were up for selection out of that long list.
“I think it was over 70 players we contacted about their availability. Only one couldn’t do it for personal reasons, which we understand.
“It just shows you that in these tough times, for a lot of people, everyone was desperate to go on that tour.
“Gareth, I’m sure, will be wanting to not only have a successful tour but get himself in the Test side.
“He’s shown over a number of years with Wales that he can perform at the highest level and be a match winner.”
He will face stiff competition from Murray in particular, with Townsend saying of the Munster No. 9: “He’s played really well for the Lions in the past and he’s back in really good form.
“I know he’s been unlucky with injuries, so great that he’s fully fit. I’m looking forward to working with him.”
Owens and Williams will both be making their second tours with the Lions.
But while the Scarlets have four players in the touring party, there was no place for Jonathan Davies.
The centre toured Australia in 2013 – he memorably kept Brian O’Driscoll out of the side for the deciding Test with the Wallabies – and was man of the series four years ago in New Zealand.
But he misses out this time, with Ireland’s Bundee Aki and Robbie Henshaw, Chris Harris of Scotland and England’s Owen Farrell and Elliot Daly getting the nod.
Head coach Gatland it was a tough decision to leave one of his trusted performers out.
He said: “He was playing with an injury in the World Cup. He’s come back and I thought we started to see some of his old form during the Six Nations.
“But it’s probably taken a little bit of time.
“It was a tough call and he was absolutely outstanding in 2017 but this is four years on.
“It’s tough on them but he has experience. There’s no doubt we’ll pick injuries up before we get on the plane to South Africa and we may get injuries out there.
“We’ve got players with experience who could get called up if that does happen.”
Davies is one of a number of bigname casualties, with Ireland’s Johnny Sexton, Garry Ringrose and James Ryan also missing out. England wing Jonny May can also consider himself unlucky to be staying at home.
Gatland has come under fire from a number of Ireland internationals for omitting several big-name stars from the Emerald Isle.
There were high-profile absentees from all countries when the 37-player squad was officially announced, including Wales’s Jonathan Davies and Josh Navidi and England’s Kyle Sinckler and Jonny May.
Gatland cited doubts over Sexton’s durability but insisted his absence was not concussion-related, while Ringrose’s injury-enforced absence in the Six Nations finale against England allowed Aki and Henshaw to shine together at 12 and 13 respectively.
Gatland dubbed that partnership “outstanding”.
But former back-three man Luke Fitzgerald dubbed some decisions taken by Gatland, who is prioritising
physicality among other qualities for the trip to the Rainbow Nation, as “bizarre” and claimed there is a lack of consistency in the selections.
“You want to be positive about things but there are some really bizarre decisions,” Fitzgerald told the Irish Independent’s Left Wing podcast.
“There are contradictory decisions. Some people are picked for their physicality, and then some people don’t fit that bill.
“Then I look at other people who are picked on form and others are aren’t in form but got picked.
“I just think there are contradictions all over the place.”