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The six players who could benefit from George North getting ruled of Lions tour selection

(Photo by Getty Images)

Warren Gatland has hit a roadblock ahead of his announcement of the British and Irish Lions squad next week after George North revealed he had ruptured his ACL in an injury sustained while on Rainbow Cup duty for Ospreys. 

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After reinventing himself as an outside centre this year under Wayne Pivac, the Welshman was in a very good position to make his third tour having previously been chosen on the wing for the respective 2013 and 2017 trips to Australia and New Zealand.

With North ruled out of July’s tour to South Africa, it has opened the door to players who would have been considered to be in the periphery of Gatland’s selection race.  

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While nothing is certain, Jonathan Davies and Robbie Henshaw are more or less guaranteed a place in Gatland’s squad, with Owen Farrell also likely to be deployed as a centre. But there is now some new hope for players in the midfield in light of this North injury. 

RugbyPass runs the rule over six players whose prospects of tour selection have potentially been boosted by the Welsh midfielder being ruled out with ACL damage.   

GARRY RINGROSE (Ireland)
Before North picked up this injury, the Ireland midfielder was already in a good position to be part of the 36-man squad but his prospects now seem much better. Made a return to playing last weekend for Leinster after injury with Ireland in the round four Six Nations win over Scotland in March.  

ELLIOT DALY (England)
In terms of versatility, the English back is the best option to replace North. He can cover the entire back three and outside centre and that could be valuable in a 36-man squad. Like many of his compatriots, his Lions hopes were dented by England’s poor Six Nations campaign but he will feel his chances of inclusion have been boosted. 

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CHRIS HARRIS (Scotland)
Scotland’s No13 emerged as a candidate to be reckoned with after a succession of imperious defensive performances during the recent Six Nations. He may not pose the same attacking threat as North, but his defensive credentials would be unmatched. 

HENRY SLADE (England)
Another England player who fell down the pecking order because of the Six Nations having been in many people’s Lions squads ahead of North at the beginning of the year. 

CAMERON REDPATH (Scotland)
By far the most inexperienced player on this list with only one cap to his name, but he threw his hat into the ring with his February debut against England in the first round of the Six Nations. The tour may have come slightly too early for him, but North’s injury will provide some hope. 

MANU TUILAGI (England)
As a like-for-like replacement, he provides even more power in midfield than what North would have offered. Gatland knows what he would get from the Sale centre, but he has been out of action since September with an achilles injury. Although expected to be fit for the tour, he would still be considered a risky option given his layoff. 

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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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