2021 British & Irish Lions Squad

[MikeTheNative]

Lions like Farrell can find 'confidence'

Players like England captain Owen Farrell can return to "playing with some confidence" on this summer's British and Irish Lions tour, hopes head coach Warren Gatland.

www.bbc.com

The Lions isn't the place people should be looking for or confidence....

I said "a lions tour isn't the place for players for find form" when someone yesterday was trying to argue for JD2's inclusion.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

"We didn't pick Ryan because he was out of form in that Leinster loss"

"We picked Farrell because he might find form on tour, hopefully"

 

[Jakedood]

Lions like Farrell can find 'confidence'

Players like England captain Owen Farrell can return to "playing with some confidence" on this summer's British and Irish Lions tour, hopes head coach Warren Gatland.

www.bbc.com

The Lions isn't the place people should be looking for or confidence....

Why not? Especially the warmup games, if they think he's good enough on form then great

Maybe all James Ryan needed was a little confidence eh?

 

[MikeTheNative]

What happens if he still doesn't hit form?
Your stuck with a dead weight then, when you could have selected someone who is playing better currently.

 

[MattGaff]

I can only imagine there will be injuries\bans to the squad. I have a feeling some of these players will still go or make an appearance at some point

 

[TRF_Olyy]

What happens if he still doesn't hit form?

They'll play him anyway - it's the Saracens-in-International-Rugby way

 

[Jakedood]

What happens if he still doesn't hit form?
Your stuck with a dead weight then, when you could have selected someone who is playing better currently.

Maybe but you'll see a lot of that. If you're lights out in warm up games as Ted Hill, you may even replace AWJ, especially if AWJ is playing poorly. They think he's good enough, but we'll see
ALso he's playing lower level so hard to judge comparatively, but Townsend said he was impressed by Daly in that article with his running lines, attacking selections and ability to beat a man

 

[Curls]

I can only imagine there will be injuries\bans to the squad. I have a feeling some of these players will still go or make an appearance at some point

Gatland is the kinda coach that would call up James Ryan as a replacement and then not take a risk playing him in a test incase he put in a MOTM performance and mad him look stupid

 

[Reiser99]

Lions like Farrell can find 'confidence'

Players like England captain Owen Farrell can return to "playing with some confidence" on this summer's British and Irish Lions tour, hopes head coach Warren Gatland.

www.bbc.com

The Lions isn't the place people should be looking for or confidence....

But using a competition to play players into form worked for Eddie...

 

[Welsh Exile]

While I certainly think we're not helping ourselves by not taking players like Ryan, Sinkler, Sexton, Navidi, Ringrose, Slade and Tomos Williams I still feel confident of a series win. Not as confident as before but there's more than 23 outstanding players in that squad and sure we look a bit weak in some areas but I still feel we should get a close 2-1 series win.

 

[Leinster Fan]

Lions like Farrell can find 'confidence'

Players like England captain Owen Farrell can return to "playing with some confidence" on this summer's British and Irish Lions tour, hopes head coach Warren Gatland.

www.bbc.com

After England's resounding success using this approach in the Six Nations, it's hard to argue with Gatland's logic.

 

[AlRums]

This is BS when in the same squad he picked 'back chat' Farrell.

And whinger Biggar

 

[Leinster Fan]

I wasn't sure if this squad just feels weaker or if it actually is, but a by position analysis doesn't come out looking great.

LH - Definitely weaker than the average tour
Hooker - Probably a slight weakness comparitavely, plenty of quality there but George is out of form and Owens is old.
Tighthead - Could make an argument either way, Furlong's all round game is as good as anyone the Lions have had and I rate his backups too. Probably a position of strength but I'm sure some will disagree. Sinkler missing out on one hand speaks well of the strength here, on the other you could say that him not going means we're not as good as last time. Still, I'd be inclined to take them over the options on most other tours
Lock - Like TH, a position that as a collective we're strong in but negatively impacted by some odd selection. If we have a match day squad made up of Itoje/Henderson/Beirne/Lawes we're as good as anyone but strong chance Gatland shoehorns AWJ in there. Should be a strong point but might not turn out that way in practice. Also Jonny Hill (still don't get it). About as good as other tours.
Backrow - A strong point but pretty much every Lions tour I can remember has had a strong backrow contingent and it's hard to see Simmonds and Conan making it onto many other planes. We also don't have a natural 6. I think we're probably better than SA here and it's a strong group but other tours were probably better.
Scrumhalf/Outhalf - Easily the weakest the Lions have been this side of 2000, in both positions. Not much more to say.
Centre - Bad
Back three - Honestly pretty decent.

In summary, Loosehead, 9, 10 and centre are all obvious downgrades on most tours. Lock and hooker are okay, backrow and back three are both good but not obviously moreso than other tours, tighthead is the only area where I think there's a decent argument we're better than normal.

 

[ncurd]

snip

On tighthead Furlong aside last time out we had him and Sinckler as our test pair. Its kinda hard to think they shouldn't be this time out. Definitely better than Jones and Cole or Vickery way back in 2009 but I think the requirements of prop have changed in the last decade a fair amount. As players like Furlong, Sickler and Mako (like at least 2 years ago now) have shown and you can't just turn up and be a scrummaging machine. Those players were pretty damn good back then for the standards of the time. As noted I don't think they are quite as good as last time out.

Think I'd call even that 'evens' rather than just better.

 

[LeinsterMan (NotTigsMan)]

I'm waiting for Gatland to blame Snickler performance in the 2019 RWC for his lack of selection

"It was like he wasn't even on the pitch most of the game..."

 

[Jakedood]

Backrow - A strong point but pretty much every Lions tour I can remember has had a strong backrow contingent and it's hard to see Simmonds and Conan making it onto many other planes. We also don't have a natural 6. I think we're probably better than SA here and it's a strong group but other tours were probably better.

May have more natural fetchers, but a backrow featuring coetzee and vermeulen would be absolutely monstrous. They're strong over the ball and just otherworldly In the carry. If both are fit ofc

 

[Leinster Fan]

On tighthead Furlong aside last time out we had him and Sinckler as our test pair. Its kinda hard to think they shouldn't be this time out. Definitely better than Jones and Cole or Vickery way back in 2009 but I think the requirements of prop have changed in the last decade a fair amount. As players like Furlong, Sickler and Mako (like at least 2 years ago now) have shown and you can't just turn up and be a scrummaging machine. Those players were pretty damn good back then for the standards of the time. As noted I don't think they are quite as good as last time out.

Think I'd call even that 'evens' rather than just better.

Agreed but equally speaking the last two tours had Dan Cole and before that Matt Stevens. I'd say it's either the same or worse compared to the last tour but in the broader context of Lions tighthead I think it's fairly strong. Agreed that in test terms there's a decent chance it won't be able to match the Furlong-Sinkler combo from last time but we'll find out I suppose.

 

[LeinsterMan (NotTigsMan)]

I'm sorry but comparing Cole to stevens is bang out of order.

Cole was a penalty magnet at the time but he was also one of the best scrummaging tightheads around

 

[Leinster Fan]

I'm sorry but comparing Cole to stevens is bang out of order.

Cole was a penalty magnet at the time but he was also one of the best scrummaging tightheads around

To be fair I agree and didn't mean to do that (although my post does imply it).

I do think Cole was on the downswing by 2017 (and as you said his ill discipline was probably at it's worst, I remember it getting much better afterwards) and that all the options this time are better than he was in 2017 but no argument that he was far far better than Stevens at all times, Stevens going ahead of Mike Ross is probably still the Lions decision I'm most bitter about.

 

[BPM]

Maybe but you'll see a lot of that. If you're lights out in warm up games as Ted Hill, you may even replace AWJ, especially if AWJ is playing poorly. They think he's good enough, but we'll see
ALso he's playing lower level so hard to judge comparatively, but Townsend said he was impressed by Daly in that article with his running lines, attacking selections and ability to beat a man

It's Jonny Hill, not Ted.

Ted is the blindside flanker and Worcester captain.

Jonny is the mullet wearing Exeter lock who has somehow got a Lions call up.