Andy Goode: My British & Irish Lions XV a year out

It’s now less than a year to go until the British & Irish Lions face Australia in the first Test of the 2025 tour in Brisbane and, while there’s still a season for players to play their way in, the starting XV is starting to take shape and as many Scots as Englishmen are in it for me.

Clearly, the Test team will be dominated by the Irish and not just because Andy Farrell is head coach, they are the reigning Six Nations champions and have just beaten the world champions away from home to boot.

I think the men in green will contribute over half of the run-on side but, despite the fact they didn’t have any Lions Test starters at all between 2001 and 2021, Scotland could have as many representatives as anyone else.

Finn Russell has to start at fly half with his box of tricks and increased maturity now at the ripe old age of 31. Marcus Smith is his closest challenger and has a similarly impressive blend of flair and game management skills but he’s giving up quite a bit in terms of experience compared to Russell.

Blair Kinghorn has been an absolute revelation since joining Toulouse in the middle of last season and has won all of the 14 games he’s played for his new club, lifting the Champions Cup and Top 14 trophies in the process, so he’d be my full back.

Hugo Keenan has probably been the standout performer in that position going back a bit further but he’s taken a brief break to play sevens and Kinghorn has gone to another level since moving to France and his physical stature and relationship with Russell count in his favour.

The third Scot I’d have in my side would be Sione Tuipulotu and, while Ollie Lawrence and Bundee Aki have both been outstanding recently, the 27-year-old Australian-born centre has consistently shown he has the power, distribution skills and decision-making to start at inside centre for the Lions.

Aki may have been nominated for the 2024 Six Nations Player of the Championship, off the back of an excellent World Cup as well, but he’ll be 35 next summer and have even more miles on the clock whereas Tuipulotu will be just coming into his prime and knows Russell inside out as well.

England have been improving and will hopefully continue to do so over the next 12 months but they’re still in transition and I’ve only been able to make the case for three to be included in the starting XV, two of which have exploded onto the international scene this year.

Immanuel Feyi-Waboso can simply do things that most other players can only dream of and he’s already showing real intelligence and an ability to get his hands on the ball more and more to go with the power, fast footwork and lethal finishing we’d already seen. I’d have him in over Duhan van der Merwe any day of the week.

The other England newby who I believe can not only make the Test team but play a starring role in a series win over the Wallabies is Chandler Cunningham-South, who may only have seven caps to his name but is just a phenomenally physically gifted athlete and has just had a really good tour to New Zealand.

Fellow back rower Sam Underhill has described the Harlequins man as a “freak athlete” and said he hasn’t seen anyone with as much raw power before and his 6ft 5in frame and ball-carrying ability are just what’s needed when you take into account the opposition and conditions.

Some people might be surprised that he’s in there ahead of Ben Earl, who was also nominated for the Six Nations Player of the Championship this year and has arguably been England’s best player since he was finally given a starting berth, but I’ve gone for size and athletic ability at blindside.

Jac Morgan is the one Welshman who would make my Lions Test team and I know he hasn’t played an international game since the World Cup and has struggled with knee and hamstring injuries but he’s the best out and out openside we have and has credit in the bank from an outstanding tournament on the biggest stage of all last year.

Caelan Doris completes the back row, is possibly the easiest pick of all and would be my captain as things stand after he led Ireland to victory over the Springboks in Durban last week. The 26-year-old doesn’t seem to have any weaknesses, raises his game for the big occasions and is now showing real leadership qualities too.

The Lions will need ball carriers all over the pitch if they’re going to emerge victorious Down Under and those in the back row will be ably assisted by Ellis Genge, Dan Sheehan and Tadhg Furlong in the front row, who would have to up there with the best front row combination in the loose we’ve ever seen.

Sheehan is a try-scoring machine, Furlong can distribute almost as well as he can scrummage and Genge at his best is one of the most destructive carriers and most combative figures in world rugby.

In the engine room, George Martin is definitely in the mix with his growing reputation as England’s enforcer and Maro Itoje is always going to be there or thereabouts but I can’t see past the Ireland pairing of Joe McCarthy and Tadhg Beirne.

The former provides the ballast, work rate and dominance in defence and attack that you need from your tighthead lock and the latter is a nuisance at the breakdown, a menace at the lineout, hits a ton of rucks and is a real threat with ball in hand as well. They’re about as close as you can get to the perfect second row combination.

The forwards are a bit more Irish dominated than the backs but I don’t think anyone can argue that Jamison Gibson-Park and James Lowe are deserving of their places in the Lions starting XV.

Antoine Dupont is probably the only scrum-half above Gibson-Park in the global pecking order at the moment and Lowe’s cannon of a left boot gives him an advantage over other players but his strength, pace and eye for a try are enough to get him selected on their own anyway.

And, outside centre might seem like one of the most difficult positions to call right now but I really feel that’s only because Garry Ringrose missed almost the whole of this year’s Six Nations and another few months of Leinster’s campaign with a shoulder injury.

Robbie Henshaw has deputised well for him in a green jersey but isn’t as natural an outside centre, Henry Slade has impressed since his return to the England fold and Huw Jones has had a good season for Glasgow and Scotland but Ringrose is world class on both sides of the ball.

I’d be surprised if there were fewer than eight Irishmen in Farrell’s starting team for the first Test in Brisbane but the handful of Englishmen and Scots and one Welshman add further power, creativity and breakdown ability which should create a potent mix.

The Wallabies are enjoying a bit of a resurgence already under Joe Schmidt, although things couldn’t get any worse than they were under Eddie Jones, but the Lions will be favourites to win the series.

There’s still a fair bit of water to go under the bridge between now and then and injuries may well rule out a few of the aforementioned players but the Tests between Ireland and South Africa, England and New Zealand and Wales and Australia have given us more insight into who might nail down those famous red starting Lions Test jerseys.

The likes of Doris, Lowe, McCarthy, Furlong, Beirne and co have all enhanced their cases, while Cunningham-South and Feyi-Waboso in particular have shown they have a point of difference that could prove incredibly useful indeed to Farrell in his quest to get the better of Schmidt.

The Wallabies will be better after another 12 months of working with the former Ireland head coach but a 3-0 series whitewash for the Lions is a distinct possibility and this is a team that is definitely capable of achieving that.

My British & Irish Lions Starting XV

15 Blair Kinghorn

14 Immanuel Feyi-Waboso

13 Garry Ringrose

12 Sione Tuipulotu

11 James Lowe

10 Finn Russell

9 Jamison Gibson-Park

1 Ellis Genge

2 Dan Sheehan

3 Tadhg Furlong

4 Joe McCarthy

5 Tadhg Beirne

6 Chandler Cunningham-South

7 Jac Morgan

8 Caelan Doris (c)