Agreeing on a Lions team is far from easy but we got there in the end.
We are on the cusp of the 2017 British & Irish Lions squad announcement and speculation on who will make the plane to New Zealand is mounting.
On The Hard Yards rugby podcast, we asked Ronan O’Gara, Kevin McLauglin and Fionn Carr to give us their starting Lions XVs and used that to kick off an almighty squad selection debate.
Host Andy McGeady, SportsJOE’s Pat McCarry and Paul Williams of Rugby World also chimed in with their selection shouts but, for the most part, the Irish rugby stars called the shots [listen below].
https://soundcloud.com/thehardyardssportsjoe/episode-11-lions-special-our-starting-xv-the-irish-maybes-and-inside-gatlands-mind
The lads all agreed on 10 players that they feel should start the First Test against New Zealand on June 24. They are:
Jack McGrath (Ireland), Tadhg Furlong (Ireland), Maro Itoje (England), CJ Stander (Ireland), Billy Vunipola (England), Conor Murray (Ireland), Johnny Sexton (Ireland), Robbie Henshaw (Ireland), George North (Wales) and Stuart Hogg (Scotland).
After that, things got complicated.
Here’s a sample of some of the comments:
Ronan O’Gara: “Owen Farrell has been one of the stand-out performers in Europe for the past 24 months… I view him as a 10 and, for me, if the Lions were to select Rhys Webb and Farrell [as half backs] they don’t lose anything.”
Kevin McLaughlin: “Alun Wyn Jones is out for me. I have Itoje and Joe Lasunchbury starting… Wyn Jones is an absolute warrior and he gets through a lot of work. He has a serious engine on him and gets through an unbelievable amount of work. He is a serious whiner to the referee too – Alun Whine Jones.”
Fionn Carr: “Sean O’Brien is an animal and I think he’d be a great addition with Stander and Vunipola but I threw in Justin Tipuric because he can get some key turnovers for the Lions… If you have him or Sean O’Brien, one starting and one on the bench, you’ll go far.”
We let each lad argue their case but eventually settled it when we got two from the three to agree on a player.
So here it is, THE HARD YARDS’ LIONS XV
Eight Irish players, three English, three Welsh and one Scot.
Before you go accusing the lads of bias, we’ll just leave this here…
Nope, it wasn't a dream https://t.co/MCeR4nSp2e
— SportsJOE (@SportsJOEdotie) November 6, 2016
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