As reflects these past four seasons, Ireland has the most players on a British & Irish Lions tour for the first time, with 15 players being included in the 38-man squad for his summer’s trip to Australia. This eclipses the 14 Irish players who were named in the original Lions squad for the 2009 tour to South Africa.
England provide 13 players, including the captain Maro Itoje, with eight from Scotland and just two from Wales – their lowest total ever and a far cry from the 15 Welsh players named in the initial squad for the last expedition to Australia a dozen years ago. Or their tallies of 12 and 10 in the last two original squads.
Allowing for the ill-timed shoulder injury which has ruled out Caelan Doris, virtually all of Ireland’s frontline candidates have been included, with the exceptions of Sam Prendergast and Robbie Henshaw, who misses out on a third tour. By contrast, the former will no doubt have more opportunities.
Dan Sheehan, Rónan Kelleher, Andrew Porter (who was an original pick four years ago before being ruled out), Tadhg Beirne, Joe McCarthy, James Ryan and Josh van der Flier are all in line for their first Lions tours, while Jack Conan, a starter in all three Tests four years ago, and Tadhg Furlong, an ever-present starter in the last two series, has been named for a third time.
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Jamison Gibson-Park, Mack Hansen, Hugo Keenan, James Lowe, and, finally, Garry Ringrose have been named for the first time as well, while this will be Bundee Aki’s second tour.
Some members of the media and former players across the water might grumble at their lesser contingent of 13, given England beat Ireland last season at Twickenham and finished above Ireland in this year’s Six Nations.
However, Ireland hold a 3-1 record over England in this four-year Lions cycle, as well as winning two titles, including a Grand Slam. They also had the standout achievements on summer tours by the four countries in winning a series in New Zealand and drawing another in South Africa.
Leinster are by some distance the bulkiest suppliers of any club or province to this 38-man squad, with 12 players, alongside the Connacht duo of Aki and Hansen, and Munster’s Beirne. The next biggest totals from one club or province are the four apiece provided by Glasgow and Northampton, with the 20-year-old Henry Pollock joining Alex Mitchell, Fin Smith and Tommy Freeman.
All four starred in Northampton’s 37-34 win over Leinster in last Saturday’s Champions Cup semi-final at the Aviva Stadium, although it’s worth stressing that until that game Leinster had consistently outperformed all other British and Irish teams in this competition.
Indeed, before last Saturday’s game, Leinster had won 13 matches out of 13 against Premiership opposition over the previous four seasons, and by an average winning margin of almost 28 points.
In whittling an original long list of around 75 players down to 38 over the last six months, head coach Andy Farrell provided an inkling into what an arduous process it had been.
“That’s the way it should be. If it was easy we’ve not got a good squad. It was difficult, very difficult. In fact, going from 75 players and getting it down to say 55, that’s the next stage, that’s tough enough as it is, which says everything about the process itself.
“But getting it down to the final 38, it’s my job to play devil’s advocate and ask the questions of ‘why’, so we can thrash it out properly. And the honest chats that I’ve had with all the coaches and the players that we’ve talked about have been fantastic, so we’re able to do everyone justice really.
“But to get from, say, 55 to 38 is extremely difficult, and then you get to about 90 per cent and the last 10 per cent is torture, and that’s exactly how it should be. It just means that we’ve got a fantastic, competitive squad.”
Players from each of the four countries were interviewed on camera at the O2 in London where the squad was unveiled by Lions tour manager Ieuan Evans in front of an audience of 2,000 supporters. And when Ugo Monye mentioned the need for characters and revealed that one of them was Hansen, to which a slightly alarmed Farrell commented: “Are you serious? Ah, here we go. Strap in.”
The case for Irish players would have been helped by Farrell heading a coaching ticket that also included the Ireland attack coach Andrew Goodman, defence coach Simon Easterby, scrum coach John Fogarty and kicking coach Johnny Sexton. And as an aside there is no glaring omission akin to the wrongly overlooked Sexton four years ago.
As well as Henshaw and Prendergast, Owen Farrell, the head coach’s son and two-time Lion misses out. And so too, less surprisingly, does Ryan Baird, although you can’t help but feel he is a player of Lions quality.
James Ryan was omitted four years ago, whereas he has been sidelined of late, but his ability to scrum on both sides would have helped his cause. Like the man himself, Hansen is a bit of a left field call, but as well as being Australian-born, he is the kind of playmaking winger who suits Farrell‘s attacking philosophy, and is sure to be a good, entertaining tourist.
Hansen was seemingly on FaceTime on his own phone somewhere in the west when interviewed and admitted: “I was just heading for a swim. I’m lost for words for the first time in my life I’d say, which is good for Faz to hear. It’s an incredible ... I don’t know what to say, honestly.
“This has been sprung on me. Bundee was meant to do it but he’s minding the kids.”
Yes, he should blend in seamlessly.
British & Irish Lions squad to tour Australia
The British & Irish Lions Squad
Forwards (21): Tadhg Beirne (Munster/Ireland), Ollie Chessum (Leicester/England), Jack Conan (Leinster/Ireland), Luke Cowan-Dickie (Sale/England),Scott Cummings (Glasgow/ Scotland), Tom Curry (Sale/England), Ben Earl (Saracens/England), Zander Fagerson (Glasgow/Scotland), Tadhg Furlong (Leinster/Ireland), Ellis Genge (Bristol/England), Maro Itoje (Saracens/England) (capt), Rónan Kelleher (Leinster/Ireland), Joe McCarthy (Leinster/Ireland), Jac Morgan (Ospreys/Wales), Henry Pollock (Northampton/England), Andrew Porter (Leinster/Ireland), James Ryan (Leinster/Ireland), Dan Sheehan (Leinster/Ireland), Pierre Schoeman (Edinburgh/Scotland), Will Stuart (Bath/England), Josh van der Flier (Leinster/Ireland).
Backs (17): Bundee Aki (Connacht/Ireland), Elliot Daly (Saracens/England), Tommy Freeman (Northampton/England), Jamison Gibson-Park (Leinster/Ireland), Mack Hansen (Connacht/Ireland), Huw Jones (Glasgow/Scotland), Hugo Keenan (Leinster/Ireland), Blair Kinghorn (Toulouse/Scotland), James Lowe (Leinster/Ireland), Alex Mitchell (Northampton/England), Garry Ringrose (Leinster/Ireland), Finn Russell (Bath/Scotland), Fin Smith (Northampton/England), Marcus Smith (Harlequins/ England), Sione Tuipulotu (Glasgow/Scotland), Duhan van der Merwe (Edinburgh/Scotland), Tomos Williams (Gloucester/Wales).
