Warriors must be wary of Ash the Splash
With shares in two racehorses back in New Zealand, Warren Gatland is familiar with the equine expression for a ‘bolter’: a horse that wins at long betting odds.
the same term is used to describe a non-test player with an outside chance of a British and irish Lions call-up — such as misfit Saracens and England winger Chris Ashton.
having scored 86 tries in his last 147 games for club and country, the prolific 29-year-old should, on paper, be a front-runner to start against the All Blacks in June. But his exile looks set to continue.
Due to a sequence of lengthy bans, he has not played for England since 2014 and Gatland is spoilt for choice with back-three options who all featured in the Six Nations.
On Sunday, Glasgow Warriors fans will have the chance to see him up close as Gregor townsend’s men take on Saracens in their European Champions Cup quarter-final. For Ashton, it will be another chance to display his undoubted talent on the big stage.
‘there’s no question over Chris Ashton’s calibre, but do i think a Lions call up will happen? Probably not,’ former England and Lions winger Mark Cueto told Sportsmail.
‘his strike rate is incredible, but he fell out of the England team because of his discipline. he’s got a fiery track record. there’s only one person to blame and that’s himself.’
Most of Ashton’s tries have been accompanied by the opinion-splitting ‘Ash Splash’ celebration. he has been cast as the pantomime villain and booed off stage so often that he has engineered an early contract release to move to France.
it is the curious case of Chris Ashton: the arch poacher. the Ole Gunnar Solskjaer of rugby. he is a master at tracking play and shadowing half-backs to break free, but his critics instead focus on the defensive lapses that could be punished by the All Blacks.
‘Once you get labelled with a weakness, it’s so difficult to wipe the slate clean,’ said Cueto. ‘Ashton’s defence was questioned in his early days — more positioning than physicality — but that was ten years ago now.
‘he isn’t shy of sticking his shoulder in. For me, his defence is good enough.’
Ashton will have one final chance to silence his critics — and impress Gatland — in the domestic and European play-offs. But the scheduling does not work in his favour, with Saracens players likely to be unavailable for the first Lions camp in Wales on May 15.
Combined with the cashsqueezing business of the modern test calendar, Ashton’s hopes of joining the likes of Jeremy Guscott (1989), Will Greenwood (1997) and Christian Wade (2013) in the elite ranks of ‘bolters’ are increasingly bleak.
‘Back in the early days, there weren’t that many international games, so you would get a few bolters,’ said Wasps director of rugby Dai Young, who toured with the Lions between 1989 and 2001. ‘Now there are ten international games a year.
‘When i was lucky enough to go, there were only four internationals, so it was always likely someone could go who hadn’t featured. i don’t know if bolters will happen now.’
Gatland narrowed down his back-three options during his Six Nations scouting mission. Across England, Wales, Scotland and ireland, there were 15 different wingers on display — with Sale winger Denny Solomona soon eligible through residency.
‘there are a lot of wingers to squeeze into four or five tour spots,’ said Cueto. ‘But it’s not that clear-cut because no one really stuck their hand up in the Six Nations.
‘George North has struggled over the last 12 months, Simon Zebo had a quiet Six Nations and Jack Nowell was dropped in Dublin. Elliot Daly’s on fire, but what’s his best position? Anthony Watson has been injured and there’s tim Visser, tommy Seymour and Sean Maitland.
‘Liam Williams and Stuart hogg are probably the two who are nailed on.’
Gatland will name his squad on April 19.