It wasn’t a great championship this year, though few in Ireland can be expected to give a damn about that. And while there are plenty of folk who might think that Ireland’s Grand Slam (sixty one years in the waiting) was hardly vintage stuff, that’s often been the case with Grand Slam winning sides. The great England team of the early 1990s didn’t play much champagne rugby while outside observers might say the same thing, and with some reason too, of Scotland’s twin triumphs in 1984 and 1990. Nonetheless, there’s little denying that there was no truly outstanding team in the championship this year. Apart from their performance against France Ireland were efficient rather than spectacular and rather too reminiscent of to many joyless Munster teams of years gone by.
Wales, I’m glad to say, failed to live up to the hype. Perhaps now people will cease assuming that Warren Gatland is some kind of coaching genius. He’s good but not that good. Still, Wales played their part in the best match of the tournament in what was a splendid, frighteningly physical encounter in Paris. The French themselves were infuriatingly inconsistent and their terrible performance at Twickenham was probably the worst effort of the year. If they can find an adequate pair of locks, however, then we all could be in trouble next season. England were beginning to look troublingly good by the end of the season. Then again, if Martin Johnson can’t put the fear of god into his players who on earth could?
As for Scotland and Italy? Same old story. Some promise but no cigar. At least Frank Hadden didn’t make a blunder on the scale of picking Mauro Bergamasco at scrum-half. As Nick Mallett discovered it’s tough to win internationals when you give the opposition a 20 point start. Still, Scotland will have a new coach next season but until the long-term fiscal and structural problems afflicting the game north of the border are fixed we shall continue to struggle.
But this is a Lions year which means half the fun of t is picking a touring party. It’s very hard to see how the Lions can hope to triumph in South Africa, but for what it’s worth – and because some commenters like this sort of thing – here’s the party of 35 players I would take to South Africa:
Full-back:
Lee Byrne
Delon Armitage
Wing:
Tommy Bowe
Shane Williams
Thom Evans
Mark Cueto
Centre:
Brian O’Driscoll
Tom Shanklin
Riki Flutie
Gavin Henson
Fly-half:
Stephen Jones
Ronan O’Gara
James Hook
Scrum-half:
Mike Philips
Harry Ellis
Mike Blair
Loosehead:
Gethin Jenkins
Andrew Sheridan
Hooker:
Lee Mears
Jerry Flannery
Ross Ford
Tighthead:
Euan Murray
John Hayes
Phil Vickery
Second Row:
Paul O’Connell (Captain)
Alun-Wyn Jones
Donncha O’Callaghan
Nathan Hines
Back Row:
David Wallace
Ryan Jones
Stephen Ferris
Jamie Heaslip
Martyn Williams
Tom Croft
Simon Taylor
As you can see that’s 11 Welshmen, 10 Irishmen, 8 Englishmen and 6 Scots. I admit that Simon Taylor’s selection is in some ways a sentimental one but because of injury the poor lad has played just 35 minutes of rugby on his previous two Lions tours and can therefore be considered amongst the unluckiest Lions in history. It would be nice, if unlikely, for him to have another chance. Plus, he offers emergency cover for the second row.
Still, as I say, it’s hard to see how we can hope to win the series, regardless of who is taken.
Comments