OUT OF ORDER
Telfer’s fury as Gatland picks just two Scots in Lions squad EXCLUSIVE
Jim Telfer has insisted Scottish rugby fans are right to feel ‘aggrieved and disillusioned’ after Warren Gatland named just two Scots in his 41-man lions squad.
Only Stuart Hogg and Tommy Seymour have been included for the summer tour to New Zealand, with 16 chosen from england, 11 from ireland and 12 from Wales.
And Scottish rugby legend Telfer, who helped coach the lions to 1997 Test success in South Africa, said Gatland, on sabbatical from his regular job as Wales coach, stood accused of ignoring the Scots.
‘Twelve Welshmen who have had a pretty average season in a lions squad of 41 is not justified, especially as Scotland just got two and we beat Wales well,’ he said.
‘Scottish rugby fans have every reason to be aggrieved and disillusioned because of that. We beat Wales fair and square. We beat ireland fair and square — yet only got two players in the lions squad.
‘There will be a disconnect from Scottish rugby fans going out to watch the lions in New Zealand. The lions supporters are loyal but they like to see a sprinkling of players from their own country taking part.
‘With only two Scots definitely going, that thrill has gone. There is nobody in that
Lions squad apart from Stuart Hogg that excites me. You need a bit of spark to win games at the highest level and only Stuart has that. ‘There is nobody in that squad apart from him that has that “X Factor” or the sort of flair that Finn Russell has been showing for Scotland, yet Finn is not being picked. ‘Scotland have the most creative back division in Northern Hemisphere rugby, yet we only got our full-back and one of our wingers in the Lions squad. ‘Okay, Finn didn’t play well against England but that was a one-off game when everything that could have gone wrong for Scotland did. You going to ignore him because of that? No, you should not.’
Sportsmail understands, however, that the vast Scottish omissions stem from that brutal defeat at Twickenham and also Glasgow’s reverse at Saracens. Indeed, that theory was pretty well confirmed by Gatland yesterday. ‘I don’t think they (Scotland) lost out because, at the end of the day, we just felt we’d look at their game footage,’ he said. ‘We’d done our due diligence, looked at the Twickenham game. ‘There’s no doubt that Scotland have done very well and they will be aggrieved and disappointed about things.
‘They performed exceptionally well at home and probably the greatest strength that Scotland have had is their collective performance. ‘They’ve been well coached by Vern Cotter, who has done an exceptional job. ‘But remember, the Lions are not playing at home. We are playing away from home. Scotland haven’t been to New Zealand since 2000. ‘And we are playing the best team, back-to-back world champions in their own back yard. We have to perform away from home. That’s going to be paramount. ‘It is not about trying to get a quota system. It is about trying to get the best squad. We wanted to take the nationality out of it. ‘Put all the players in contention in the positions and discuss that. Go through the pros and cons of the players and forget about nationality. ‘Look, we understand Scotland are going to be disappointed but it wasn’t about what nation you come from. We put together what we thought was the strongest possible squad.’ Telfer remained unconvinced, however, and labelled Russell, Hamish Watson, Richie Gray, Fraser Brown and winger Sean Maitland as players who could feel disappointed. ‘There are 22 forwards in that Lions squad and not one Scot,’ he continued. ‘What makes that even harder to take is our forwards played well in the Six Nations. It is not as if we were outplayed, apart from the England game when everything went wrong. ‘The Scotland team played well apart from that, especially up front, and not to get any forward recognition is baffling.’ Hogg also admitted he would have liked more of his countrymen in the squad but added: ‘You’ve got to look at the squad and the pressure Warren Gatland has been under to pick it. ‘Finn and a few others are just unlucky to miss out but there is still plenty of time and games to be played. I think you could see a few more Scots on the tour.’