ONE OF THE PRIDE
Seymour is not playing Scots card with Lions
WITH only 14 of the 41-strong squad having reported to Lions training thus far due to club commitments, the three Scottish players in attendance perhaps don’t yet feel like they are in the minority.
Indeed, Glasgow Warriors winger Tommy Seymour — who reported to the Vale of Glamorgan alongside compatriots Stuart Hogg and Greig Laidlaw — believes too much has been made of the make-up of the squad, even if the dearth of Scots has caused some scratching of the head.
Earlier this week, All Blacks head coach Steve Hansen questioned Warren Gatland’s decision to overlook some of the contenders from north of the border in favour of the Welshmen that were put to the sword by Scotland during this year’s Six Nations.
Seymour, however, insists he is focused on the bigger picture — and that a successful tour to New Zealand is all that matters.
‘That question’s been asked a lot (about the lack of Scots), but I’m in my Lions head now,’ he insisted. ‘I need to get familiar and bed into relationships with guys here. That’s my focus right now, it’s not about what’s not here. I feel like you guys (in the media) want me to have an answer to the Scottish thing. You don’t enter the meeting room or the team room and think: “There’s a Scotsman, there’s an Englishman, there’s an Irishman, there’s a Welshman”.
‘It can’t work like that. If you go in with that mindset, then you’re already on the back foot, you’re already creating lines where there doesn’t need to be any.
‘We go into the meeting room and we think: “There’s another squad member, another part of this playing group”.’
To that end, Seymour also believes the tourists must be willing to put it all on the line if they are to win a series in New Zealand for the first time since 1971.
‘We’ve got to be willing to go through a lot of pain to beat this side,’ said the 28-year-old. ‘We’ve just got to be at our utmost. We’ve got to make sure we know everything we’re trying to do on the field inside and out. Everything’s got to be second nature. We’ve got to be willing to be physical with them; we’ve got to be willing to play as well. We’ve got to go out there with ambition — there’s no point in sitting on our heels and hoping you’re going to have a physical confrontation with them.
‘You’ve got to be willing to play and expand and really take the game to them as well. So I think for us it’s just about getting as much detail as possible on the field, and once we’ve got that detail making sure it’s second nature.’
Meanwhile, Rory Hughes and Greig Tonks have been drafted into the Scotland squad after injury forced Saracens wing Sean Maitland to withdraw.
Maitland damaged ankle ligaments in Saracens’ Aviva Premiership loss to Wasps a fortnight ago and will now sit out this summer’s tour to Singapore, Australia and Fiji.