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Just one Englishman makes cut as McGeechan floods his Lions XV with Scots
By Ian Cameron
British and Irish Lions guru Sir Ian McGeechan has rewarded form and selected no less than eight Scottish players into his latest Lions XV.
Scotland players have infamously been overlooked for Lions slots in recent years under head coach Warren Gatland. Just two players - Stuart Hogg and Tommy Seymour - made the initial tour team for New Zealand in 2017, although Greig Laidlaw, Finn Russell and Alan Dell would later receive call-up as the bruising tour wore on.
That was one less than in 2013, where only Hogg, Sean Maitland and Richie Gray made the plane to Australia. Yet that could all change in 2021, where a significant number of Scottish players have made strong arguments to be included after storming fortress Twickenham in fine style.
That's reflected in McGeechan's latest weekly selection, where eight players have made the Test XV.
Writing in the Sunday Telegraph, the man considered a bell-weather for tour selection has plumped for Glaswegian Zander Fagerson at tighthead alongside Wales duo Ken Owens and Wyn Jones. Jonny Gray - maybe the most bizarre non-selection in 2017 - starts alongside lone Englishman Maro Itoje, one of the few players wearing white to put in a performance in Twickenham.
The back row is very much a Scottish affair, with Hamish Watson at openside and Jamie Ritchie on the blindside, alongside Ireland's CJ Stander, who shone in defeat against Wales.
Lions shoo in Finn Russell joins Ireland's Conor Murray in the halfbacks, with dazzling debutant Cameron Redpath partners with Ireland's Garry Ringrose in a classy looking midfield.
There's room for two more Scots in the back three, with Hogg and giant strike runner Duhan van der Merwe lining up alongside Welsh flyer Louis Rees-Zammit.
Naturally it's a form selection and there's still plenty of the time for cases to be made, but you dare say that there will be more than two Scots making the 2021 Lions series.
Sir Ian McGeechan’s Lions XV of the week:
Stuart Hogg
Louis Rees-Zammit
Gary Ringrose
Cam Redpath
Duhan van der Merwe
Finn Russell
Conor Murray
Wyn Jones
Ken Owens
Zander Fagerson
Maro Itoje
Jonny Gray
Jamie Ritchie
Hamish Watson
CJ Stander
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"Right, so even if they were the 4 worst teams in Champions Cup, you'd still have them back by default?"
I think (i) this would literally never happen, (ii) it technically couldn't quite happen, given at least 1 team would qualify via the challenge cup, so if the actual worst team in the CC qualified it would have to be because they did really well after being knocked down to the challenge cup.
But the 13th-15th teams could qualify and to be fair I didn't think about this as a possibility. I don't think a team should be able to qualify via the Champions Cup if they finish last in their group.
Overall though I like my idea best because my thinking is, each league should get a few qualification spots, and then the rest of the spots should go to the next best teams who have proven an ability to be competitive in the champions cup. The elite French clubs generally make up the bulk of the semi-final spots, but that doesn't (necessarily) mean that the 5th-8th best French clubs would be competitive in a slimmed down champions cup. The CC is always going to be really great competition from the semis onwards, but the issue is that there are some pretty poor showings in the earlier rounds. Reducing the number of teams would help a little bit, but we could improve things further by (i) ensuring that the on-paper "worst" teams in the competition have a track record of performing well in the CC, and (ii) by incentivising teams to prioritise the competition. Teams that have a chance to win the whole thing will always be incentivised to do that, but my system would incentivise teams with no chance of making the final to at least try to win a few group stage matches.
"I'm afraid to say"
Its christmas time; there's no need to be afraid!
Go to commentsYou are a very horrible man Ojohn. Brain injury perhaps?
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