Jody’s blog part 3
Selection
There is never an uncontroversial Lions squad selection. An argument nearly always ensues about how many from each home nation and the coach is nearly always biased to the nation their connected to. This one was no different! There were some eyebrow raising selections which were out of left field. Some exclusions which I and others felt were unjustified. In Jody’s blog part 3 I’ll give my view on the series.
The inclusions
Lets start with the inclusions. Expected to take 2 number 8s but ended up with 3 selected in Jack Conan, Sam Simonds and Toby Faletau. Chris Harris, Bundi Aki and Elliot Daly were surprises for me. We saw a lot of criticism in the media about their selection. Observing Chris Harris playing in the English Prem would find it blindingly obvious why Chris Harris was included. His solid ball carrying and superb defence he’s a tough centre to combat for aggression of South Africa. Bundi Aki however was a complete surprise.
Having watched Elliot Daly from schoolboy rugby days and one can see exactly why he was selected. Even if he couldn’t slot penalties from the his own 10m line, his ability to play at centre, wing or full back makes him a ideal replacement.
The Exclusions
Onto the exclusions, well here’s where I get a little partisan. I would have liked Mr Gatland to have looked a little more closely at the English Prem, the best league in the world. Marcus Smith, Alex Dombrand and Danny Care are a joy to watch. The inclusion of all 3 by Gatland might have indicated an intention counter the Saffa’s power game with a more creative attacking style. Marcus got the call up in the end due to injury but it was too late to have any major influence.
The other exclusions I found very surprising were Kyle Sinkler and James Ryan both at the top of their game and potentially great Lions. Kyle eventually got his call up but perhaps a players motivation is always in jeopardy, when they are not selected in the initial squad.
Review
For me a Lions tour with no fans in the stadium was never going to work and so it proved. The rugby was poor and the crowd were just not there to lift the players that next level. Whilst South Africa ended up as winners I think the biggest loser was the reputation of the Lion’s tour. The free flowing exciting rugby we are seeing in the English Prem week in and week out just wasn’t in evidence. Instead the Saffa’s played their usual (rather dull) power rugby and Gatland and his men tried to out muscle them. For me that was only going to end up in one outcome and so it proved.
Normally anyone reviewing the series would go through game by game the series was so uninspiring it seems pointless. Rasi Erasmus, the Waterboy, managed to put a downer on things after the 1st game. His hour long video criticising the refereeing said everything. South Africans might say he changed the narrative in the right way. Not in my opinion.
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The fact that Gatland didn’t select Finn Russell as the starting 10 was a defining moment for me. It led to uninspiring rugby, something I take no pleasure in saying about a Lions tour. This series will certainly not go down as a spectacle but as the Covid Lions tour.
That’s enough of that. Back to the Prem for me!!
Jody’s blog part 3 written by: Jody Wheelhouse