Eddie O’Sullivan is not sugar-coating it any more.
Last week, the former Ireland boss shot straight from the hip when he declared Joey Carbery may not feature in the No.10 jersey in a Joe Schmidt for a long, long time.
O’Sullivan made the comments off the back of Carbery’s less than stellar performance in Ireland’s victory over the United States. Kevin McLaughlin told The Hard Yards rugby podcast that O’Sullivan’s declaration was “horrendous” and he was backed up by Ronan O’Gara, who spent 10 days coaching Carbery before and during the tour.
Considering that Carbery had been tipped as a genuine British & Irish Lions bolter before Warren Gatland named his 41-man squad, in April, it was quite the statement from O’Sullivan.
The Cork native has now given his take on who Gatland should select for the Lions team ahead of Saturday’s First Test. It contains three Ireland internationals but no Peter O’Mahony.
Given that O’Mahony has been heavily tipped to lead the Lions out at Eden Park this weekend – and has been backed to do so by Ian McGeechan and Graham Henry – so O’Sullivan is going against the grain in selecting tour captain Sam Warburton.
Former @IrishRugby coach Eddie O'Sullivan has named his #LionsNZ2017 starting XV.
Who would be in your team? pic.twitter.com/cUdB2pTCTk
— BBC Radio 5 Live (@bbc5live) June 21, 2017
Warburton has looked good in short bursts but has hardly done enough, on form, to merit starting ahead of the excellent O’Mahony.
Also in O’Sullivan’s team is Welsh lock Alun Wyn Jones, who the Irishman would start ahead of Maro Itoje.
Meanwhile, former England and Lions centre Jeremy Guscott has gone with five Irishmen in his Lions XV. But there’s a ‘but’.
Guscott has gone for Tadhg Furlong, Sean O’Brien and O’Mahony – his captain – in the pack, as well as Conor Murray. He has also selected Johnny Sexton to start at outhalf but only on the condition that Owen Farrell is not 100% fit.
All the beautiful speculation will end at 8pm this evening when Gatland names his matchday 23.
Then, of course, the debates can kick off all over again.
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