Another 4 years and another disapointment.

First topic message reminder :

I just want to get this off my chest now, if I do it now it means that come June I can back the Lions to the hilt as I always do.

It’s been nearly 20 years since we had more than a token 5 Lions Tourists. In fact the last time us Scots made up more than 20% of the touring party was coincidently the last time we won the series…. Just Sayin’

Last year plenty of Scots had been left behind, and rightly so in my opinion. We were pretty mince.

The next year though the first glimpses of what might have been began to emerge, Kelly Brown, Richie Gray, John Barclay, Jonnie Beattie, Ross Rennie and Dave Denton all gave hope that although we might be lacking in the backs we would be providing some very rare Scottish Beef for the Lions Pack. That belief didn’t really change when Gray, Brown, Beattie and Grant all had storming 6N and apart from Gray have all been performing well for Club and Country.

In the backs things looked rosy too. Hogg came out of nowhere last season and this season has been a potent attacking weapon for Glasgow and Scotland. In addition Maitland our next kilted Kiwi playing superbly for Scotland and Glasgow, his father will be very proud.

So it came to today, Lions selection. I had a hope, (at least a fool’s hope), that on merit we would have parity in terms of representation with Ireland, a country who really failed to impress in the 6N to such an extent that Kidney was shown the door. I personally would have been delighted if we had provided 6 guys my 6 : Beattie, Brown, Gray, Maitland, Hogg and Scott.

These 6 guys have all done more than enough for club and country to warrant selection for this tour but for reasons best known to Gatland, 3 of them have been overlooked. As for Gatland’s comment with regards to Hogg and the possibility of playing him at 10, I have never heard so much pish in my entire life. He is a full back and at a push a winger or an outside centre….

The guys unlucky to miss out :

Brown….. Poor old Kelly. Where do I even start? I’ll start by saying had Kelly Brown toured an no other Scott been picked, I would have been happier. Or had Brown been left out for Robshaw or Wood, I would have been desperately gutted but have fully understood. To be left out for a kid who has played a handful of games for a Pro12 side who have routinely been pumped this season was and is an absolute tragedy. Lydiate has done nothing this season to warrant inclusion above Brown, Robshaw or Wood. This is a titanic sized miscarriage of justice.

Beattie, is an easier omission to bear. Lets face facts Faleteu is the guy in possession of the test jersey for the no. 8 slot. However Heaslip had a terrible 6N and apparently scoring a brace of tries against Biaritz is enough to get picked for the Lions these days. Beattie has played consistently well for Montpellier and had an excellent 6N. I have no Idea why Heaslip has been selected, clearly his reputation preceeded him.

Ryan Grant can also be pretty miffed! The Toulon bench warmer of Gethin Jenkins gets to go whilst Grant doesn’t? Let’s just recap what happened a couple of weeks ago when Adam Jones came to Scotstoun… He had a really tough time from Grant who put in a tireless shift and scored a brace of tries and has been left out….

Finally the longest shot, Matt Scott. The 12 jersey wasn’t exactly exploding with Talent, and as a result his stock had risen. I can accept him being left behind.

Onto non Scottish related players…. Heartly in there instead of Best and Matt Stevens even being anywhere near the squad is an absolute joke.

RANT OVER!!!!!

Biltong wrote:Israel?

Who's that.

Heaslip.

Never knew that.

AsLongAsBut100ofUs wrote:Disney, are you going to be around for the Heino & Amlin finals weekend?

Yeah mate, I get back to Ireland from a Polish wedding on the Monday so I'll be too broke to give it a lash though. I'm not going to the Amlin but I got my Heineken Cup Final tickets two weeks ago. Yourself?

disneychilly wrote:

AsLongAsBut100ofUs wrote:Disney, are you going to be around for the Heino & Amlin finals weekend?

Yeah mate, I get back to Ireland from a Polish wedding on the Monday so I'll be too broke to give it a lash though. I'm not going to the Amlin but I got my Heineken Cup Final tickets two weeks ago. Yourself?

PM'd you, buddy - more details of v2 meet-up to follow

Biltong wrote:Never knew that.

Heaslip's dad was an officer in the Irish millitary. He was born while his dad was doing a tour of duty with United Nations peacekeeping forces in Israel/Lebanon.

It's a bit of a red herring really, he's an Irish citizen who grew up in Ireland. I'm not sure whether he'd even be eligible for Israeli citizenship at all.