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The final part of our seven-part series in the run up to this summer’s selection, taking a look at the 2013 incumbents and their chances of being selected again.
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GEORGE NORTH
2013 tour: Went on tour as more or less the first name on the team sheet. Started all the tests, scored in two of them, and his try in the first was so good that Welsh parents have started naming their children after it. (Prove that they are not)
Since then: Joined Northampton and announced his arrival with an amazing try creation from deep against Gloucester. Some iffy form and a worrying number of concussions have seen the compass veering away from the straight and narrow from time to time, particularly this season in Edinburgh, but it seems to be back to due North by now.
Touring chances: 90%. So long as he shows a semblance of form as in the last couple of matches, he’s back to being first name on the team sheet, or at least the first wing.
TOMMY BOWE
2013 tour: A veteran of the 2009 tour – where he was second behind Jamie Roberts as player of the series – Bowe was expected to be the man on the other wing. He did get in two test appearances after an injury against the Reds ruled him out of much of the tour.
Since then: Bowe has played far fewer matches for Ulster than he would like, with injuries being a recurring problem, and two of the men he was selected over, Zebo and Trimble, have played the majority of Ireland matches. His brief, one-minute comeback in the six nations was not met with much enthusiasm outside the northernmost province.
Touring chances: 1%. With Ireland looking to move on you expect the Lions will too. His slim chances were then cut significantly with a broken ankle in his short appearance in the Six Nations.
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ALEX CUTHBERT
2013 tour: After a boatload of tries for Wales in the 2012 and 2013 Six Nations, the 6’6 Cuthbert was taken as a finisher, referring to tries, not matches. Finish he did, getting four tries on tour, including one in the first test.
Since then: It’s all gone a bit pete tong. By this years’ six nations the majority of Welsh fans insisted that they must ‘stop picking him in blind hope’. Those are not my words, they’re Shane Williams’. Cuthbert was never a particularly well-rounded player, but his ability to catch the ball, beat a cover tackle and find the try line has been tragically absent too, leaving the flaws in his game nastily exposed.
Touring chances: 2%. Leave Alex Cuthbert alone, please. He’s had enough.
SEAN MAITLAND
2013 tour: The former Canterbury winger joined Glasgow and Scotland for the 2012-13 season, and was actually taken on tour as a utility back that played fullback in one tour game and wing in another. Did well enough to make it as a sub in the third test, prompting him to make further interviews about how he’s always felt Scottish, but wasn’t used.
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Since then: By and large continues to play for Scotland with the same all-round effectiveness that he did four years ago, although a rising Scotland may look to be more ambitious than that with Seymour and Visser in the future. Survived Scotland’s last-minute world cup knockout in 2015 when he was yellow carded for deliberately knocking on, so they must have plans for him in the future.
Touring chances: 10%. Going well for Saracens but hasn’t quite got the pace of some of his six nations contemporaries, including Scotland’s Visser and Seymour. Ability to play full back is unlikely to help him, almost all this tours wingers will be doing it.
SIMON ZEBO
2013 tour: When Tommy Bowe broke his hand, Zebo was called in as cover, then being known mainly for a ridiculous back-heel pickup against Wales that year. He played three tour games and has since mainly been known for a phone call he was forced to make as a punishment.
Since then: For a long time you had to speak to someone from Limerick to find why Zebo is known for rugby, but he has over the last couple of years made an Irish back thee spot his own. Has been spending an increasing amount of time at fullback in red and green, and his developed kicking game helped seal Ireland’s win against the All Blacks in November.
Touring chances: 40%. Before this years’ Six Nations, Zebo’s performances for Munster would have likely had him on the plane, but the re-emergence of North, a fit again Anthony Watson and the rise of Elliot Daly this winter seems likely to interfere.
SHANE WILLIAMS
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2013 tour: Williams was possibly the finest winger Wales have ever played, and one of the best players in the world in the 2000s. In the 2010s, not so much. Called up as ‘backline cover’ in a universally understood signal that the midweek matches had stopped being taken seriously, he played the one match against the Brumbies, hich the Lions lost.
Since then: Williams was playing in the Top League in Japan until 2015, but the main justification for picking a man already well into his commentary career at the time was that he was up for it. Williams’ recent turnout in the Welsh ‘National Bowl’ for Amman United, aged 40. Maybe he’s got one eye on the prize.
Touring chances: 0.1%. I’m not actually putting it past them.
CHRISTIAN WADE
2013 tour: Impressed on debut for a depleted England in Argentina, and called up along with Williams, though at widely differing ends of the potential spectrum. Played the one game against the Brumbies.
Since then: Scores by the bucket load, just not for England. Wade’s career with Wasps has seen the little speedster score dozens of beautiful tries but the lack of an all-round game has left him continuously overlooked.
Touring chances: 5%. Whatever’s keeping him out of the England side will presumably keep him out of the Lions by extension, but he wasn’t first choice for England last time either.
LEIGH HALFPENNY
2013 tour: Playing every minute of the 2013 Six Nations and winning player of the tournament was a warm up. Halfpenny did exactly the same thing in the Lions test series while racking up an enormous point count. Hands, pace, vision, and in a series in which Kurtley Beale famously slipped on the tee when it mattered, peerless goal kicking. A magnificent performance.
Since then: There is no shifting him from international duties, but is that despite a need for a new attacking threat in the backline? A threat called Liam Williams, maybe? Welsh fans have become frustrated that the feet and vision that made him a star in 2013 seem to have been lost. His metronomic kicking seems to have waned a little since crossing the channel to play for Toulon as well.
Touring chances: 80%. I’ve seen quite a few fan-picked squad that leave him out but I don’t see it. Even at his slowest the security Halfpenny provides as a specialist fullback is a little too tempting, and if previous performances in a Lions shirt mean anything at all, you take him.
ROB KEARNEY
2013 tour: A veteran from 2009, Kearney was the second fullback in a side that was happy to (or more likely dependent on) have Halfpenny play 80 minutes, and made three midweek appearances on the tour.
Since then: Has continued confidently in Ireland’s 15 shirt where his contribution to Schmidt’s kicking game is most valued. Remains a safe pair of hands, but there are questions over whether that should be enough to see him keep his Ireland place following kiwi-turned-ulsterman Jared Payne’s qualification to wear green.
Touring chances: 30%. If a third fullback goes again then he is probably in, but with Liam Williams, Watson or Zebo able to cover the back three there are plenty of options to compete for this spot.
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STUART HOGG
2013 tour: The fastest man to come out of Scotland who isn’t a Labour MP. 20-year-old Hogg was actually picked in 2013 as a utility back, and covered 10 more than 15 in his four appearances against the clubs.
Since then: and two player of the tournament awards in the six nations to boot.
Touring chances: 99%. Has two games with Glasgow to not get injured.
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