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A 'Snubbed Lions XV' that reflects the touring side's remarkable strength in depth

Jonny May

Creating one squad out of four teams always means plenty of good players will miss out, and British and Irish Lions head coach Warren Gatland has said that this was the most challenging squad he has ever had to select.

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That is unsurprising when looking at the raft of players who have been omitted this year, from Test centurions to a World Rugby player of the year to a former Lions player of the series.
So here is an XV of players who missed out on the Lions this year:

15 HUGO KEENAN
Although his chances of making the Lions grew with every game he played for Leinster and Ireland this season, Hugo Keenan was still competing against a welter of top class fullbacks. The 24-year-old secured the green No15 jersey this Guinness Six Nations but is one who would have benefited from the rumours that the tour was going to be pushed back to 2022.

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14 JONNY MAY
Since narrowly missing out on the 2017 tour Jonny May has had an exceptional four years, scoring 25 tries in that time and becoming England’s second-highest try scorer. He was a safe bet for the Lions across that period but this recent Six Nations saw the emergence of some new wingers on the Test scene, which pushed the 31-year-old out.

13 GARRY RINGROSE
Ireland’s Garry Ringrose was relatively new to Test rugby in 2017, having made his debut in November 2016, and therefore missed out on the Lions. This year he has just been pipped by the likes of Chris Harris, who had an exemplary Six Nations.

12 JONATHAN DAVIES
The player of the tour in 2017 and a starting centre in the Lions’ past six Test matches, Wales centre Jonathan Davies misses out after struggling to find top form since a devastating knee injury in 2019. He has played seven Tests since his return from injury, but obviously has not reached the level Gatland requires.

11 JACK NOWELL
A toe ligament injury has meant 2017 tourist Jack Nowell has been limited to a handful of minutes this year for Exeter, which left him too little time to make a statement to the selectors.

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Nowell Exeter <a href=
England injury” width=”1200″ height=”675″ /> (Photo by Dan Mullan/The RFU Collection via Getty Images)

10 JOHNNY SEXTON
Vying to become Ireland’s most capped Lion in the professional era, injuries may have taken their toll on the 35-year-old Ireland captain Johnny Sexton, who missed Leinster’s Heineken Champions Cup semi-final against La Rochelle with a head injury. On top of that, the 2018 World Rugby player of the year was competing against a wealth of high class fly-halves.

9 TOMOS WILLIAMS
Wales and Cardiff Blues scrum-half Tomos Williams made his Test debut in a victory over the Springboks in 2018 in Washington DC. He appeared to be a popular choice under Wayne Pivac in the 2020 Six Nations, but a shoulder injury ruled him out of the autumn and a hamstring injury this year limited him to just one start in the Six Nations, which prevented him from truly staking his claim for the Lions.

1 CIAN HEALY
In what was likely to be his last chance to earn a Lions Test cap after an ankle injury midway through the 2013 tour sabotaged his chances, the 33-year-old Ireland prop Cian Healy has been pipped in his pursuit of that cap by some looseheads who have surged into consideration over the last 18 months.

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Ireland dejection Leinster Rugby
Cian Healy and Jacob Stockdale (left) sum up Ireland’s dejection following their shock defeat to Japan at the World Cup (Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)

2 GEORGE TURNER
Scotland’s 17-cap hooker George Turner took advantage of injuries to Stuart McInally and Fraser Brown during the Six Nations and made a statement with his performances in the early rounds of the Championship, particularly in Scotland’s historic win at Twickenham.
But he faced stiff competition from Ken Owens, Jamie George and Luke Cowan-Dickie, and a troublesome day in the lineout against Ireland earlier this year may have worked against him.

3 KYLE SINCKLER
After featuring in all three Tests against the All Blacks from the bench in 2017, Kyle Sinckler has featured heavily under Eddie Jones since then. However, the Bristol Bears tighthead is one of many casualties from England’s poor Six Nations.

4 JONNY GRAY
As good as Jonny Gray was for Scotland during the Six Nations, the reality is the second-row position currently has some players that are likely to go down as all time greats. The Scottish tackling machine is playing in a generation where some very good locks will miss out on the Lions.

Exeter Scotland Six Nations
(Photo by Dan Mullan/The RFU Collection via Getty Images)

5 JAMES RYAN
Ireland and Leinster’s James Ryan made his Test debut against the USA during the 2017 tour, and since then the 24-year-old lock has won titles for both club and country. He was untouchable for two years between 2018 and 2019, but suffered a slight dip in form in a crucial year.

6 JAMIE RITCHIE
Scotland’s Jamie Ritchie only made his debut in 2018, but the 24-year-old has become one of the first names on the team sheet under Lions attacking coach and Scotland boss Gregor Townsend in that time.
This year, however, players like Tadhg Beirne, Iain Henderson, Courtney Lawes and Maro Itoje, who can play in the second-row or blindside flanker, have been chosen to take on the notoriously physical Springboks, which therefore ousts other No6s like Ritchie or Wales’ Josh Navidi.

Sam Underhill. (Photo by David Rogers/Getty Images)

7 SAM UNDERHILL
A stellar 2019 and 2020 with England meant Sam Underhill was in a good position to earn a Lions berth at the beginning of the year. Unfortunately a hip injury came at the worst possible time and ruled him out of the Six Nations this year.

8 BILLY VUNIPOLA
After a shoulder injury forced him to withdraw from the 2017 Lions tour, Billy Vunipola misses out this year after struggling to put in the performances he is capable of over the Six Nations. Saracens’ season in the Championship has affected many players, but none more so than the England No8.

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J
JW 3 hours ago
'Passionate reunion of France and New Zealand shows Fabien Galthie is wrong to rest his stars'

Ok, managed to read the full article..

... New Zealand’s has only 14 and the professional season is all over within four months. In France, club governance is the responsibility of an independent organisation [the Ligue Nationale de Rugby or LNR] which is entirely separate from the host union [the Fédération Française de Rugby or FFR]. Down south New Zealand Rugby runs the provincial and the national game.

That is the National Provincial Championship, a competition of 14 representative union based teams run through the SH international window and only semi professional (paid only during it's running). It is run by NZR and goes for two and a half months.


Super Rugby is a competition involving 12 fully professional teams, of which 5 are of New Zealand eligibility, and another joint administered team of Pacific Island eligibility, with NZR involvement. It was a 18 week competition this year, so involved (randomly chosen I believe) extra return fixtures (2 or 3 home and away derbys), and is run by Super Rugby Pacific's own independent Board (or organisation). The teams may or may not be independently run and owned (note, this does not necessarily mean what you think of as 'privately owned').


LNR was setup by FFR and the French Government to administer the professional game in France. In New Zealand, the Players Association and Super Rugby franchises agreed last month to not setup their own governance structure for professional rugby and re-aligned themselves with New Zealand Rugby. They had been proposing to do something like the English model, I'm not sure how closely that would have been aligned to the French system but it did not sound like it would have French union executive representation on it like the LNR does.

In the shaky isles the professional pyramid tapers to a point with the almighty All Blacks. In France the feeling for country is no more important than the sense of fierce local identity spawned at myriad clubs concentrated in the southwest. Progress is achieved by a nonchalant shrug and the wide sweep of nuanced negotiation, rather than driven from the top by a single intense focus.

Yes, it is pretty much a 'representative' selection system at every level, but these union's are having to fight for their existence against the regime that is NZR, and are currently going through their own battle, just as France has recently as I understand it. A single focus, ala the French game, might not be the best outcome for rugby as a whole.


For pure theatre, it is a wonderful article so far. I prefer 'Ntamack New Zealand 2022' though.

The young Crusader still struggles to solve the puzzle posed by the shorter, more compact tight-heads at this level but he had no problem at all with Colombe.

It was interesting to listen to Manny during an interview on Maul or Nothing, he citied that after a bit of banter with the All Black's he no longer wanted one of their jersey's after the game. One of those talks was an eye to eye chat with Tamaiti Williams, there appear to be nothing between the lock and prop, just a lot of give and take. I thought TW angled in and caused Taylor to pop a few times, and that NZ were lucky to be rewarded.

f you have a forward of 6ft 8ins and 145kg, and he is not at all disturbed by a dysfunctional set-piece, you are in business.

He talked about the clarity of the leadership that helped alleviate any need for anxiety at the predicaments unfolding before him. The same cannot be said for New Zealand when they had 5 minutes left to retrieve a match winning penalty, I don't believe. Did the team in black have much of a plan at any point in the game? I don't really call an autonomous 10 vehicle they had as innovative. I think Razor needs to go back to the dealer and get a new game driver on that one.

Vaa’i is no match for his power on the ground. Even in reverse, Meafou is like a tractor motoring backwards in low gear, trampling all in its path.

Vaa'i actually stops him in his tracks. He gets what could have been a dubious 'tackle' on him?

A high-level offence will often try to identify and exploit big forwards who can be slower to reload, and therefore vulnerable to two quick plays run at them consecutively.

Yes he was just standing on his haunches wasn't he? He mentioned that in the interview, saying that not only did you just get up and back into the line to find the opposition was already set and running at you they also hit harder than anything he'd experienced in the Top 14. He was referring to New Zealands ultra-physical, burst-based Super style of course, which he was more than a bit surprised about. I don't blame him for being caught out.


He still sent the obstruction back to the repair yard though!

What wouldn’t the New Zealand rugby public give to see the likes of Mauvaka and Meafou up front..

Common now Nick, don't go there! Meafou showed his Toulouse shirt and promptly got his citizenship, New Zealand can't have him, surely?!?


As I have said before with these subjects, really enjoy your enthusiasm for their contribution on the field and I'd love to see more of their shapes running out for Vern Cotter and the like styled teams.

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