The truth is we don’t deserve more than two

Scotland can have no complaints about having just two players in the British and Irish lions squad.

Regardless of what rugby legends Jim telfer and Iain ‘Mighty Mouse’ Mclauchlan may claim elsewhere in today’s Sportsmail, we could not have expected more.

Go through the 41 names in the lions squad, and the positions they occupy, and it becomes apparent why we only have Stuart Hogg and tommy Seymour selected.

could we have got anybody in the front row? not a chance. our only decent loose-head prop alasdair dickinson missed most of this season through injury. tighthead prop WP nel would have gone but also isn’t fit. Zander Fagerson did a good job in his absence but, at 21 years old, isn’t ready for the lions.

competition for Fraser Brown at hooker was so tight that even England captain dylan Hartley didn’t make the cut.

the second row was where we had more of a shout with Richie and Jonny Gray. But Jonny didn’t have a great Six nations and also struggled when Glasgow Warriors lost to Saracens in the European champions cup quarter-final.

Richie did well in the Six nations but the talk is that he didn’t impress Warren Gatland much on the 2013 lions tour to australia and was never in the equation, despite playing better than his brother in the tournament.

In fact, competition was so strong in their position that England’s Joe launchbury, acclaimed as the best lock in the Six nations, didn’t even make the squad.

In the back row, if no 8 Josh Strauss had been fit, he would have had a great chance. Scotland captain John Barclay would have come close but the unluckiest of the lot was openside Hamish Watson, who narrowly missed out, although not through lack of talent.

It was all down to competition, from the likes of lions captain Sam Warburton, for the no 7 jersey.

nine and ten? Scrum-half Greig laidlaw is another who isn’t fit. His replacement ali Price was nowhere near selection. although fly-half Finn Russell has the ‘X Factor’, he isn’t as reliable as the lions thirdchoice no 10 dan Biggar of Wales.

centre alex dunbar (above) was in the mix until he cost his team two tries against England because of poor defending. His fellow centre Huw Jones, who scored two tries at twickenham, was an option but is on the long-term injury list.

then we come to the strongest part of the Scotland squad, which is the back three. Hogg was always going to go as he is one of best full-backs in world rugby. He will travel to new Zealand as favourite to start the test matches against the all Blacks.

It was then a toss-up between tommy Seymour, Sean Maitland and tim Visser for one of the spots on the wing.

Seymour got the nod as he is a far more consistent try scorer and much better under the high ball. He is unlikely to start the test matches, with Welshmen George north and liam Williams, who also can play full-back, favourites to feature.

But the Glasgow Warriors winger is someone who could, at the very least, fight his way onto the test match bench through his performances in midweek games.

those who feel Scotland deserved more than two lions players will point to the fact that Vern cotter’s team won three Six nations home matches against Ireland, Wales and Italy. But for them to really show their worth, they needed to win away from home when the chips were down.

Where better to show their lions credentials than against England at twickenham in the Six nations? that was as close they were likely to get to playing a test match against the all Blacks in new Zealand.

What a great opportunity to impress Gatland. Unfortunately, they blew it big time. Scotland went to london with expectations high but froze on the big occasion, losing 61-21.

Yes, Scotland were unlucky at twickenham with injuries but they lost their composure early on and never recovered.

Brown picked up a yellow card after just two minutes, dunbar had a nightmare defensively and Russell was anonymous. Gatland knew he couldn’t risk any of them doing the same against the all Blacks.

all is not lost, though, for the Scotland players. they will be playing Italy in Singapore, australia in Sydney and Fiji in Suva when the lions are in new Zealand.

Facing such a punishing series of games means there will be casualties in Gatland’s squad and being in relatively close proximity means that the likes of Watson, Russell, Brown plus the Gray brothers should make sure their phones are on at all times.

It may just be two players at the moment but, by the third test, there are sure to be more Scots with the lions.