Townsendhas alreadyhada playerheadache
Gregor Townsend has already submitted his initial Lions squad of 36 to head coach Warren Gatland – but he expects his final choice early next month to look a lot different.
Like the rest of Gatland’s assistants, attack coach Townsend had to come up with a list last week as a starting point for discussions.
There was general agreement over around 20 names out of the 36, but the Scotland boss still expects a lot of soulsearching within the coaching party before the squad to tour South Africa is announced on Thursday, May 6.
“It took a long while,” Townsend said when asked if making his choice had been easy. “I asked more than a couple of times could it be 56 rather than 36!
“I watched a few games I hadn’t seen in the Six Nations, and also some club games. And I’ll have to do a lot more of that over the coming weeks.
“My 36 in a few weeks’ time will be very different to this week, I’d imagine, as I’ll know a lot more about the players by then.
“We’ll probably have three more weekends of looking at players, so that will be important. There will be a lot of looking back at previous games as well, over the past 12 months.”
When that ultimate squad is
announced, Townsend is sure that Scotland will have far greater representation than in the recent past.
Not only because he and his defence coach, Steve Tandy, are involved this time round – and not just because Gatland has promised there will be more Scots, either. Quite simply, they will be there on merit.
“The Scottish players are in a much better position than four and eight years ago because of their performances and their consistency,” Townsend added. “When you put the last two Six Nations together, there’s only one point separating the four competing Lions nations.
“Over the last two years, our players have shown they can perform in our biggest games, which tends to be the Six Nations.
“It will be as tough for Scottish players as ever before, as the competition level is so high. But it will be tough for English, Irish and Welsh players, too, as there is real depth.
“Each countries representation will be down to how their players have played and who can help the Lions win the Test series.”