The Lions squad naming game

So after 4 years of arguing over who should be making the Lions squad, Thursday sees the day the squad is named.

In previous years, we had a competition where you had to name your chosen squad and the poster who listed the most correct players before an incorrect player was named was the winner. So I thought I'd do it again and give my guess at 36 players a go first.

Furlong
Owens
Itoje
AWJ
Faletau
Tipuric
Henshaw
Liam Williams
Hogg
Anthony Watson
Sinkler
Ryan
Wyn Jones
Curry
Murray
Biggar
Farrell
Ringrose
Beirne
Hamish Watson
Stander
George
Henderson
Gareth Davies
Tomas Williams
Navidi
JD2
van der Merwe
Sutherland
Adams
Francis
LRZ
Healy
Cowan Dickie
Tuilagi
Sexton

Chris, I’ve taken the liberty of putting your squad into position order. On the whole I agree with lots.  Here’s how it looks:

Furlong, Sinkler, Wyn Jones, Sutherland, Francis, Healy

Owens, Cowan Dickie, George

Itoje, AWJ, Ryan, Henderson, Beirne (assuming you meant Beirne at lock?)

Faletau, Tipuric, Curry, Hamish Watson, Stander, Navidi, Billy Vunipola

Murray, Tomos Williams, Gareth Davies

Farrell, Sexton

Henshaw, Ringrose, Tuilagi, JD2,

van der Merwe, Adams, LRZ, Anthony Watson

Liam Williams, Hogg

Quite like it.  However, I think it’s a bit light at 10. And Farrell at international level is more of a 12 (or at least, that’s where a lot of his international experience is).  So I would add in someone (Biggar? Russell?).  Is lock and back row a bit heavily stocked?  Especially with Beirne who could cover both.  I would cut one to make way for another at 10.  As much as I rate him I think I would cut perhaps Navidi.  It’s just such an area of strength.  Maybe cut Billy V too based on current form.  So that frees up 1 or 2 places.  Not sure I’d go for Francis either.  I think some other TH’s are in front of him but he’s a good solid player.  JD2 - struggling at the mo so I think we need to look elsewhere.  And Tuilagi won’t have played much if anything before the tour.  But we’re struggling for centres so I can see the Lions gambling on them.  But fit and in form players such as Harris could/should be considered too I think.

Edit: Maybe take Farrell as a centre as it’s a position we’re struggling with, in place of JD2 or Tuilagi.  And then Biggar and Russell get on the plane as 10s with Sexton.

The point of chris' post was to play the game of previous tours ie to post in order the squad you think will be posted by Gatland. The winner being the person who gets farthest along before picking an incorrect choice.

Doh! Completely misread his post! Well, in that case ignore everything I said!

I did wonder why they were in such a strange order!

Its bloody hard from memory.

The Oracle wrote:I did wonder why they were in such a strange order!

Well I’m ordering the players for me you showed me I’d missed out Biggar! So thanks! That isn’t the squad I would take, but the one I think Gats will go for.

Healy, Jones, Sutherland
Owens, LCD, Herring
Furlong, Porter, Sinkler
AWJ, Itoje, Gray, Ryan
Beirne, Navidi, Watson, Tipuric, Faletau, Simmonds
Murray, Davies, Price
Sexton, Russell, Smith
Henshaw, Davies
Ringrose, Harris
DVDM, Adams, LRZ, May, Watson
Williams, Hogg

I think Gatland will go for this side.

Furlong
Sinckler
Itoje
Faletau
Owens
Wyn Jones
Beirne
Ryan
Hogg
L.Williams
Farrell
Henshaw
Sexton
George
A.Watson
Adams
Curry
Murray
M.Vunipola
T.Williams
H.Watson
Underhill
LCD
LRZ
Henderson
B.Vunipola

Going to stop there as I'll definitely have 1 wrong by then. Cheers for this Chris.

I am fairly confident about the first 20 to 25 (pride comes before a fall!), after that there are a lot of 50:50s.  I can see with the makeup of the coaching team, that a few Scottish players may get on the right side of those 50: 50 calls – Jonny Gray, Chris Harris, Rory Sutherland, Zander Fagerson, etc.  Gatland has historically been loyal to some of his players, so JD2, Leigh Halfpenny, Dan Biggar, etc could benefit.  I can’t see him picking Manu without seeing him play any rugby, but sadly I think we can expect to see some injuries before the start of the tour, which will give him and a few others an opportunity to be added in later on.

AWJ (capt)
Hogg
Liam Williams
Wyn Jones,
Owens
Faletau
George
Furlong
Itoje
Beirne
Curry
Murray
Sexton
Russell
Farrell
Henshaw
Tipuric
Hamish Watson
Anthony Watson
LRZ
Adams
Ringrose
Ryan
Sinkler
Navidi
Stander
van der Merwe
Tomos Williams
Kieran Hardy
Cowan-Dickie
M Vunipola
B Vunipola
J Gray
Sutherland
Porter

AWJ
Itoje
Hogg
Furlong
Henshaw
Farrell
Faletau
Ryan
Curry
Cowan-Dickie
Owens
Stander
Tipuric
L Williams
Navidi
H Watson
A Watson
Murray
George
Bierne
J Davies
Sinckler
Henderson
Wyn Jones
Porter
LRZ
Ringrose
Navidi
Biggar
Adams
Sutherland
G Davies
Russell
T Williams
May
Healy

Wyn Jones
Owens
LCD
Furlong
Sinckler
AWJ
Itoje
Beirne
Ryan
Curry
Navidi
Faletau
Murray
Biggar
Sexton
Adams
Henshaw
Anthony Watson
Hogg
Tipuric
Farrell
Liam Williams
Gareth Davies
M Vunipola
Tuilagi
George
Stander
JD2
VDM
May

Gone around 31/36. Trying to suss Gatland out is quite hard. Tried to stick in position order, at first.

Cheers Chris. Killed a bit of time.

Itoje
Furlong
Faletau
Sinkler
Wyn Jones
AWJ
Owens
Curry
Murray
Farrell
Henshaw
Hogg
Watson
Williams L
Beirne
Biggar
Cowan Dickie
Watson
Ryan
Sexton
George
Russell
Tipuric
Navidi
Sanderson
Stander
Underhill
May
Davies G
Slade
VDM
Ringrose
M Vunipola
B Vunipola
Healey
LRZ

Nice idea!

1. AWJ
2. Itoje
3. Furlong
4. Faletau
5. Hogg
6. Liam Williams
7. James Ryan
8. Wyn Jones
9. Sinckler
10. Curry
11. Tadhg Beirne
12. Henshaw
13. Ken Owens
14. Anthony Watson
15. Josh Adams
16. O Farrell
17. Mako Vunipola
18. LRZ
19. Biggar
20. Tipuric
21. C Murray
22. Navidi
23. Jamie George
24. Billy Vunipola
25. Gareth Davies
26. Hamish Watson
27. Porter
28. Sutherland
29. Ali Price
30. Iain Henderson
31. Cowan Dickie
32. Duhan VdM
33. Underhill
34. Slade
35. Tuilagi
36. Russell

A few dodgy selections in my list - just hoping to get in double figures before it goes wrong.

AWJ
Itoje
Beirne
Ryan
Wyn Jones,
Owens
Furlong
Faletau
Curry
Tipuric
Hamish Watson,
Hogg
Liam Williams
Murray
Farrell
Henshaw
Biggar
Anthony Watson
LRZ
Adams
Sinkler,
Russell
George
Ringrose
Cowan-Dickie
Slade
Gareth Davies
Navidi
Sexton
B Vunipola
Henderson
Tomos Williams
van der Merwe
M Vunipola
Sutherland
Porter

Furlong
Itoje
Faletau
Hogg
AWJ
Owens
Wyn Jones
Curry
Anthony Watson
Beirne
Biggar
Sinckler
LCD
Liam Williams
Conor Murray
Tipuric
Gareth Davies
Rees-Zammit
Mako Vunipola
Jamie George
Henshaw
Tuilagi

[EDIT: Adding more names]

James Ryan
Fagerson
Adams
Simmonds
Hamish Watson
Slade
Farrell
Healy
Underhill
Nowell
Henderson
Price
Sexton
Wainwright

AWJ confirmed as Captain. Not surprised but gives the upper hand to SA as they will field two world-class and inform Locks. The Lions will not.

Workrate of players should be a key aspect to selection, like Rassie demanded from his players. He would rather see 100 engagements with twenty failed engagements than 40 engagements with no mistakes.

I just hope Sam Simmonds gets a call up.

Lions squad announcement today so the BBC send their sports reporter to cover the release of the Team GB Olympic kit.

TightHEAD wrote:Lions squad announcement today so the BBC send their sports reporter to cover the release of the Team GB Olympic kit.

Luckily, the BBC can cover more than one event each day, so they'll have the Lions announcement too.

Well done nipnip, who wins with a huge 12 correct names before an incorrect call of Sexton!

Sinkler or Ryan's omissions caught out most.

chris_501 wrote:Well done nipnip, who wins with a huge 12 correct names before an incorrect call of Sexton!

Sinkler or Ryan's omissions caught out most.

Well done.

Blinking terrible choice for me to go in positional order, where possible

Rugby Fan wrote:

TightHEAD wrote:Lions squad announcement today so the BBC send their sports reporter to cover the release of the Team GB Olympic kit.

Luckily, the BBC can cover more than one event each day, so they'll have the Lions announcement too.

Was it even on the main news?