Watch the Lions squad announcement live
Warren Gatland is set to spring some surprises today when he unveils his Lions squad to tour New Zealand this summer and there looks set to be winners and losers from Ireland at the London announcement at 12pm, .
The long wait is over for nervous players from Ireland, England, Scotland, and Wales as head coach Gatland names the players he believes can be the first Lions squad since 1971 to win a series against the All Blacks this summer.
Wales back-rower Sam Warburton is favourite to be named captain by Gatland for the second tour in succession having led the tourists to a series victory over Australia in 2013. English lock Martin Johnson is the only other Lion to have had that distinction in 1997 and 2001.
A leaked photo this morning appeared to confirm Warburton’s captaincy.
Warburton captain confirmed..... #LionsNZ2017 (possibly!) #leaks #leeks pic.twitter.com/m2zuAgH9yS
— Donald McCrorie (@ilgrandetoro) April 19, 2017
The absence of England’s back-to-back Six Nations winners George Ford, Joe Launchbury, and Jonathan Joseph has been signposted in the British media with Johnny Sexton, Owen Farrell, and Dan Biggar the possible preferences ahead of Ford at out-half.
Joseph appears to have lost out to former Leinster centre Ben T’eo in the midfield selections, where Robbie Henshaw could be named today.
Launchbury, meanwhile, seems to have paid the price for outstanding performances against England by Ireland locks Iain Henderson and Donnacha Ryan in the final game of the championship on March 18, although there is speculation that one of the heroes of the Irish win, man-of- the-match Peter O’Mahony, could be a significant casualty in the back-row selections when Gatland reveals his hand at the Hilton Syon Park Hotel in west London.
There is still cause for hope for those players on the borderline of selection with the Lions coaching team headed by Wales head coach Warren Gatland and including Rob Howley of Wales, Ireland defence coach Andy Farrell, and England forwards coach Steve Borthwick having their final meeting in London yesterday.
That gives room for manoeuvre and cases to be made that will sustain the uncertainty right up to the moment Gatland reveals his captain and squad.
Back row and hooker are certainly areas of contention for the Lions. Munster captain O’Mahony has been in the mix with Taulupe Faletau and Justin Tipuric of Wales as well as Ireland team-mate Sean O’Brien while Gatland looks certain to name another Munster man in CJ Stander alongside Warburton and England No.8 Billy Vunipola.
At hooker, Ireland captain Rory Best was being considered after leading his country to victory over the All Blacks last November with England’s Jamie George, their captain Dylan Hartley and Wales’s Ken Owens fighting for three places.
The Lions touch down in Auckland on May 31 and play their opening game against a Provincial Union XV in Whangerei four days later, playing four Super Rugby outfits and the New Zealand Maori before the first of three Tests against the world champion All Blacks in Auckland on June 24. Another Super Rugby franchise, the Hurricanes, lie in wait for the Lions between the first and second Tests on a punishing 10-game schedule in six weeks on a tour ending July 8.
It is an itinerary, described by Graham Henry as “suicidal”. In an interview with ESPN, the 70-year-old, who coached the Lions in 2001 to a 2-1 series defeat in Australia before leading New Zealand to a 3-0 sweep of the 2005 Lions, believes the schedule could scupper Gatland’s hopes of his squad being competitive.
“There is huge pressure on the Lions,” Henry said. “I know from my own experiences how much the players respect getting selected for the Lions. It is the pinnacle of their career. It is massive but they need to do well and I just wonder if the itinerary is suicidal. That is my concern.
“They are playing New Zealand Maori, they are playing the five franchised teams - and those teams have nothing to lose, no pressure on them at all, so they will fire everything at the Lions and take them on.
“But really when you tour, you need to ensure some momentum is created by results and you just wonder how they are going to go into the test series with that itinerary. It is very demanding.
“You just want the Lions to do well because it is such a marvellous brand in world rugby and they need to do pretty well to maintain the potency of the brand, because it’s huge for the southern hemisphere countries to have the Lions tour.”
R Best, J McGrath, C Healy, T Furlong, D Ryan, I Henderson, CJ Stander, C Murray, J Sexton, R Henshaw, R Kearney.
