Two games into the northern hemisphere’s tour of the south, we can start to make an assessment as to who will return next year as part of the British and Irish Lions.
Based on the form of the players this June and including those missing through injury, it is clear who the Lions are likely to be. Here is my list of the 2013 British and Irish Lions.
1. Gethin Jenkins (Captain – Wales): already a Lion, he is not only making another claim for the loose head position, I think he is making a claim for the captaincy. Corbisiero should be on the bench.
2. Rory Best (Ireland): the Irish hooker has cemented top billing as the Lions no. 1 hooker and is another captaincy candidate. Dylan Hartley should be on the bench and he may put pressure on him for a starting spot but that’s about it. This is possibly an area of weakness for the Lions.
3. Adam Jones (Wales): just pipping Dan Cole for the tight head spot by his slightly better scrummaging. Euan Murray is also a strong chance for a bench spot.
4. Richie Grey (Scotland): arguably the premier lock in world rugby, the Scottish giant who has to have his mattresses specially made to fit his 6ft 10 inch frame, has it all. His try against Ireland and performance against the English and French this year were more than what any other lock in the world can offer. Against Australia he was solid in the wet, but in dryer conditions look out!
5. Courtney Lawes (England): the injured Englishman is the epitome of today’s dynamic professional lock. Naturally lean and athletic he has a high work rate both in the gym and on the field so it fits that this amazing talent should be selected above all others except Grey.
6. Dan Lydiate (Wales): bases his game on big defensive displays, which can change the flow of a game, evident by being named the Player of the Six Nations. He just gets the nod ahead of Ferris, Croft and Denton who are all unfortunately missing from the June tests.
7. Ross Rennie (Scotland): a controversial selection ahead of Warburton, Robshaw and O’Brien. However, Rennie outplayed all in the Six Nations on a losing side and was immense against the Wallabies. If he can maintain his form and hide the fact he’s Scottish he should get the nod.
8. Ben Morgan (England): not entirely match fit at the moment but one can’t ignore that his inclusion for England during their Six Nations campaign made a huge difference. His ‘Man of the Match’ display in the last match was irresistible.
9. Danny Care (England): the bad boy of English rugby, he should get the nod ahead of his countryman Youngs due to his quicker service and stellar form in the English premiership. May be a touring risk though if indeed he becomes acquainted with Mr Beale and or Mr Cooper.
10. Jonathon Sexton (Ireland): A reliable and certain choice at fly half, the Heineken Cup hero has been good for Ireland and should be first choice with no other bar possibly Toby Flood pushing him for a place.
11. Tommy Bowe (Ireland): another missing from the Ireland team this June, his try scoring ability is too much to ignore. If fit he will play.
12. Jamie Roberts (Wales): nothing more needs to be said.
13. Mani Tuilagi (England): Who could resist combining Roberts and Tuilagi in the mid-field even at the expense of the ageing yet still highly competitive Brian O’Driscoll or the young superstar Jonathan Davies. McCabe and Horne (or maybe by next year Chris F’Sautia and Will Tupou) will be earning their money trying to stop this powerful two-some.
14. George North (Wales): the powerful young winger is a must for any side, even possibly a world XV. His natural pace and size can be summed up by the fact that his coaches have told him not to spend too much time in the gym because it might spoil his natural somatotype. He must have some Pacific Islander in his blood. Since Shane Williams retired he has not played as well on the Welsh left wing so I’m positive he’ll picked on the right wing where he belongs. If not his team-mate Cuthbert is just as powerful and amazingly even bigger.
15. Ben Foden (England): with Sexton there is no need for Halfpenny and with Kearney not being able to bring his Heineken cup form into the Test arena, the under-rated Englishman gets the nod.
One thing is certain: the Lions are going to be strong. After all they will be the combination of four Test match quality sides.
The Wallabies will not be able to match them physically but that is nothing new. We need to do what we do best and play intelligent rugby, which is what we are famous for.
Roarers, who would you pick for the Lions team next year and how do you think the Wallabies can counter them?
Gav steer
Guest
Mate you can't be serious about Jenkins. He has no form currently, there are 2 Englishmen and one Irishman in the running ahead of him. The back row will be Faletau o'Brien and Robshaw. Zebo and North front runners for the wings and in the centre BoD and Tuilagi
daniel welsh warrior
Guest
1. Cian Healy 2. Ross Ford 3. Adam Jones 4. Richie Grey 5.Alun wyn Jones 6. Dan Lydiate 7. Justin Tiperic 8. Jaime Heaslip 9. Mike Phillips 10. Jonny wilkinson 11. George North 12. Jaime Roberts 13. Keith Earls 14. Tim Visser 15. Leigh halfpenny 16. Richard Hibbard 17. Dan Cole 18. Euan Murry 19. Ryan Jones 20. Danny Care 21. Jonny Sexton 22. Alex Cuthbert
Muddy Rhino
Guest
This is the beauty of the Lions... so many good players to choose from. Here's my team. http://img209.imageshack.us/img209/9479/mylionsrugbyiphoneapp.png Team selected with MyLionsRugby
Issei
Guest
Terrible team no natural leaders and Danny care couldn't lace the boots of mike Philips!!!
Welsh Jerry
Guest
Three players everyone is missing are: Ashley Beck, Jonathon Davies, and Justin Tipuric. Tipuric and one of the other two could well mnake the starting line up
MrLeeLee
Guest
1.E Murray (if no games are played on a Sunday otherwise Sheridan 2.R Ford 3.A Jones 4.R Gray 5.P O'Connell 6.S Ferris 7.S Warburton 16.G Jenkins 8.J Heaslip 17.R Best 9.M Phillips 18.D Cole 10.J Sexton 19.C Lawes 11.T Bowe 20.T Croft 12.J Roberts 21.B Youngs 13.B O' Driscoll 22.M Tuilagi 14.G North 23.J Hook 15.L Halfpenny Big pack will get Aussies on the back foot and that front row would destroy the Aussie scrum Andrew Sheridan fit and healthy probably starts Dan Cole would have to make way Murry would drop to the bench. A 100% fit and in form A Sheridan is to good to ignore but it's a huge if , Corbierso probably goes instead. O'Connell is good in the line outs, is a good leader and has sound defense he is still one of the best locks in world rugby he has to play. This pack is good in the tight and there size would were them down in the loose i would try to bring on the forward replacements early so they get some minutes against tired legs there's good speed and mobility on the bench and that could give them the edge. I would also give Tuilagi 30 mins for BOD i wouldn't fancy facing him with tired legs and he could have a huge impact of the bench. BOD has better game awareness and defense he is also a good leader and i would have to start with him. Hook would only come on in case of injuries which is why i went for his versatility. Halfpenny is good all rounder and kicks long penalties. The lions should try and keep things simple and go through the phases they have forwards and backs who can get over the game line. They will need to slow Aussie ball down and use the set piece to there advantage as much as they can simple isn't it LOL. All this said i think it will be a great series and without lots of injuries the lions win 2-1 I would also like to say that there are other players good enough but i havn't seen enough of them and others i couldnt trust like C Healy for example iv'e seen him go backwards to many times in the scrum, Foden, Morgen, and aston all have ?s for me. Can R Ford throw good line out ball consistently? i ope so. I would consider using a bigger unit than T Bowe but he would start 1st game. Lions Strengths are there front 5 and centers, there weakness is probably the hookers and half backs. Anyhow can't wait for the tour good luck everyone.
AndrewMSheridan
Guest
i disagree with what you saying about O'Driscoll.. he might have lost a yard or to of speed but he still has class acceleration.. hes quicker than Roberts and Tuilagi over the first 10 yards.. his leadership qualities are good but i think your being hard on him.. not to forget his defence..
Rugby Fan
Roar Guru
The Roar should have at least two more juicy Lions squad discussions before the final selection is made. There'll be one around the Autumn Internationals and another for the Six Nations next year. Gatland will have a conundrum. In 2009, Ireland claimed the Grand Slam and provided the largest group. Wales were next largest but had ended up behind England, despite winning the Grand Slam the year before. They did beat England in their head to head at Twickenham so there wasn't any feeling this was unbalanced. Many of the best performers on that tour ended up being Welsh players which also justified the choice. It'll be interesting to see how the composition of the tour party reflects the final 2013 6 Nations table. What if Scotland or England finish in front of Ireland or Wales? Will that be enough to up their quota, and steer the Lions party in a different direction to the one most are predicting now? Woodward favoured a lot of English players in 2005, even though the team had been poor in the 6N (finishing 4th), and that sowed early seeds of dissension. If Wales don't perform in the 2013 competition, Gatland could be in a similar spot if he bets on a large Welsh contingent. If he does overlook Wales, however, he might find himself in Graham Henry's jam of losing the confidence of his team when he returns from Lions duty. For his own career to proceed smoothly, Gatland needs another good tournament out of Wales next year. The problem is, he has been asked by the Lions to step away from the national side. In fact, they would like him to be away for the Autum Internationals too, but his accident makes that particularly inconvenient. He needs to somehow find a way to inspire his team again while remaining hands-off, which will be a difficult balance to strike.
Ben S
Roar Guru
Or appease his Wasps lunch buddies: Simon Shaw, Lawrence Dallaglio and Josh Lewsey are the greatest English players, and big is good. Yawn. I do find his stuff generally offensive as I think it lowers the tone of the sport, but then I guess there are attention seeking tub thumpers in every country.
Rugby Fan
Roar Guru
I don't think Stephen Jones writes anything to please middle England (or Sunday Times readers). Jones used to be an interesting rugby writer and has a couple of decent books. He then got caught up in a need to be an expert on the future direction of the game. That becomes a problem because you start trying to make everything fit into your analytical framework. He seemed to feel the Southern Hemisphere unions were trying to hijack the game and took it upon himself to triumph the game up North. That's one reason he got so much behind England when they became dominant in the latter stages of Woodward's tenure. Reading his pieces, many in the South actually assumed he must be an English journalist, and some still do. When England imploded after the 2003 World Cup with mismanagement, reactive apointments, poor selection etc, Jones felt betrayed, because he had invested so much in their ongoing success. He has never been onside with England since. He's usually to be found telling you how England are getting it wrong, which has been a safe tactic, because England haven't achieved anything of real note since that World Cup win. These days, he prefers to make a few outrageous calls, mostly about team selection, to keep in the spotlight. This Lions slection is case in point.
Colin N
Guest
I wouldn't have Robshaw at the moment, but he has been outstanding in South Africa and Warburton didn't look fit to me. It was either that or he was completely off form. I think some of the selections are strange, but we'll see what happens over the course of the year. The AI's and Six Nations will be telling. Ironic to see Barnes select Robshaw, though, considering I remember Barnes calling him merely a "good club player" and it wasn't intended as a complement.
Ben S
Roar Guru
Monye is a left wing, and not a number 14. Jones is cringeworthy. He's lost all/any relationships he had with the top players, and so he just tries to evoke response. Boring stuff.
ScotandProud
Guest
Jones is so biased towards Wales, whenever Wales go on a winning streak he gets all millenarian evangelical. I promise you a lot of those selections are made for comfortable middle class readers who only watch the odd international and the odd english reader who thinks Jonny Wilkinson, Rob Andrew and Rory Underwood could and should come back to lead the Lions to series victory - having picked Welshmen at 11. 12. and 13. does Jones seriously think that Monye is one of the best 2 wings in the British Isles or is he trying to placate his English readership?
Dean Vincent
Guest
Robshaw in Barnes team....dear God....I don't think even the most one-eyed Englishman would pick him in their team and I can't see O'Connell being there either. Alun-Wyn Jones won't be anywhere near either unless he learns to catch restarts. He was dire on Saturday.
Ben S
Roar Guru
Genuinely think all of those selections are terrible. I find it borderline offensive Barnes and Jones get paid to comment on rugby.
I've got the sunday times right in front of me. Stephen Jones' xv 1. Healy 2. Best 3. A Jones 4. Charteris 5. Grey 6. Lydiate 7. Warburton 8. Faletau 9. Phillips 10. Sexton 11. North 12. Roberts 13. Davies 14 Monye 15 Kearney He mention's in his article he's expecting a more in form Warburton next year to skipper the side. He doesn't think O'connell will make the squad with Lawes and Evans as backup locks in his squad, nor Ferris to tour either. He has Rennie as the back up no 7. Dallaglios' xv 1. Jenkins 2. Rees 3. Cole 4. AW Jones 5. Grey 6. O'Brien 7 Warburton 8. Faletau 9. Phillips 10. Sexton 11. North 12. O'Driscoll 13. Tuialagi 14. Cuthbert 15. Kearney Stuart Barne's xv 1. Healy 2. Best 3. A Jones 4. O'connell 5. Grey 6. O'Brien 7. Robshaw 8. Heaslip 9. Youngs 10. Sexton 11. North 12. Roberts 13. Davies 14. Halfpenny 15. Kearney
Rugby Fan
Roar Guru
Stephen Jones has apparently chosen his Lions squad for next year. The Sunday Times is behind a paywall so I haven't seen it: perhaps someone else has. From Twitter, however, I understand he has neither Paul O'Connell or Stephen Ferris on the plane and tips Ugo Monye for a place in the starting XV. In 2009, he didn't see a role for Brian O'Driscoll so the man has form for these kinds of selections.
Ben S
Roar Guru
Realistically the finals will either be contested by Toulouse, Toulon, Clermont or... Castres... and maybe Racing (IMO), which narrows it down a bit.
Ben S
Roar Guru
Haha. That's jokes. Very good.
Bakkies
Guest
Philips plays for Bayonne who I doubt barring a miracle will end up in the Top 14 Final. The Top 14 Final is scheduled for June 1 the date of the Lions 1st match. So if any players who get picked for the Lions will fly out on the 2nd they will probably be too tired to play the Lions next match on the 5th.