Young and Solomona top the list of outside bets for summer crusade
IS THERE any chance of Warren Gatland coming up with a genuine bolter for the 2017 Lions? Probably not. All four Home Unions are strong this year and you fancy even some big names are going to struggle to make the cut.
There will be extremely high quality second rows, back rowers and centres left at home that in other eras might have been Lions starters. Rarely has it been more difficult for a bolter to squeeze in.
And yet Gatland is a coach who knows the value of coming up with something different, especially in New Zealand where the Lions will need to score tries to beat the All Blacks. Famous last words but I don’t ever see the Lions edging a kicking dual 18-15!
So perhaps there are still a couple of longshots. Sale’s recent Rugby League convert Denny Solomona certainly comes into the X-factor category of players who could flourish. In barely two months with Sale he has already racked up eight Premiership tries – in a side in the bottom half of the League – with at least three of those contenders for try of the season.
Nor does it seem this is anything unusual for him. He arrived in Union off the back of a spell at Castleford RL when he scored 57 tries in 41 matches. He is a complete natural and having played stacks of Rugby Union at the prestigious St Peter’s School in New Zealand as a teenager is experiencing few of the problems many League players encounter making the switch. There are some twists to this tale, though. Solomona is of Samoan heritage born in New Zealand. Having moved to London Broncos in 2014 he qualifies on residency grounds next month but certainly, as a League player, he insisted his heart was with Samoa whom he represented against Fiji last year in a League international. When push comes to shove is he committed to going the England route within Rugby Union which would open the doors for possible Lions selection? The whole issue of ‘project players’ representing the Lions is a thorny one. No one doubts, for example, that CJ Stander is a prime candidate to start for the Lions and some even make out a case for him to captain the team but as former captain of South Africa U20s that doesn’t sit well with everybody.
Technically, within the regulations, it is permissible and you would have to say that if Stander is selected – which he will be – Solomona also qualifies.
Elsewhere it’s looking pretty barren but I wouldn’t rule out two Wasps players. Thomas Young has probably been the stand-out openside in the Premiership this season but with both Sam Warburton and Justin Tipuric in residence with Wales he’s having to patiently wait his turn.
In your correspondent’s opinion there is not the