“Lions do not have that luxury”
Lions and England legend, Jeremy Guscott, has made a bold claim about head coach Andy Farrell’s options ahead of the tour to Australia.
Guscott was one of the finest centres of all-time and went on three Lions tours, from 1989-1997, playing in eight tests.
1997 was particularly memorable, as he scored the series-winning drop goal in the second test against South Africa.
In his column for The Rugby Paper, he has made a controversial call on the pedigree of the players available to Lions head coach Farrell, before he selects his squad in May.
According to Guscott, just four players from England, Scotland, Ireland, and Wales are world class, and just two of these hail from Ireland.
He wrote: “In terms of pedigree, the 2025 British & Irish Lions squad selected by head coach Andy Farrell next month to tour Australia will not have a “generational” player like France does in Antoine Dupont.
“However, while the Lions do not have that luxury, Farrell does have four world-class options in fly-half Finn Russell, lock Maro Itoje, tighthead Tadhg Furlong, and hooker Dan Sheehan, as long as they are at their best.”
It seems as though he forgot about the likes of Tadhg Beirne, James Lowe, Caelan Doris, Jamison Gibson-Park, and Hugo Keenan, to name just a few world-class Irish stars.
