Potential Lions Squad - Post ANC Discussion

First topic message reminder :

Well despite Fiji being out of the picture in terms of home nation opposition and Japan being unable to make it over it was still a very interesting tournament. England were deserved winners if you ask me and I think Ireland showed they are still a dangerous side who will be a big part of the next Lions tour. The Fact Nemani Nadolo who only played one match was joint top try scorer with Jamie George shows how little free flowing running rugby there was throughout.

In terms of all the player discussions we had over the summer, who do you feel has improved their case after the ANC? And who has perhaps dropped in form or not had the impact you'd have expected? And finally, which newly capped players might be in with a shot as a bolter?

Player Of The Match (Home nations)

Rd 1 - Jamie George (ENG), Caelan Doris (IRE), Duhan van der Merwe (SCO)
Rd 2 - Maro Itoje (ENG), Aaron Wainwright (WAL)
Rd 3 - Sam Underhill (ENG), Iain Henderson (IRE)

Play Off Finals - Taulupe Faletau (WAL), Caelan Doris (IRE), Billy Vunipola (ENG)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autumn_Nations_Cup#Player_statistics
https://www.autumnnationscup.com/fixtures-tv/

king_carlos wrote:If George Turner can maintain his form against England across the Six Nations then he's a potential bolter. Especially with McInally and Brown crocked.

Hooker isn't that blessed with options. George was well below his best at the weekend but will presumably be involved. Cowan-Dickie has been very good for England and Exeter for a while, should be starting for England in my opinion. Ken Owens is a fantastic player but needs to stay fit.

I dont think so. Remember he's Scotland's third choice hooker for a reason, and whilst he is on good form and played well against England, he's fairly small to be taking on the Boks. I've always rated him (daft of Edinburgh to let him go to Glasgow), but what you didn't see at Twickenham is his tendency to give away penalties and do silly things.

funnyExiledScot wrote:

king_carlos wrote:If George Turner can maintain his form against England across the Six Nations then he's a potential bolter. Especially with McInally and Brown crocked.

Hooker isn't that blessed with options. George was well below his best at the weekend but will presumably be involved. Cowan-Dickie has been very good for England and Exeter for a while, should be starting for England in my opinion. Ken Owens is a fantastic player but needs to stay fit.

I dont think so. Remember he's Scotland's third choice hooker for a reason, and whilst he is on good form and played well against England, he's fairly small to be taking on the Boks. I've always rated him (daft of Edinburgh to let him go to Glasgow), but what you didn't see at Twickenham is his tendency to give away penalties and do silly things.

I've watched Turner since he was with Heriots in the old Scottish Premiership so am the first the admit there are weaknesses to his game. In the build up to the Calcutta Cup I stated repeatedly that hooker was a position that England should be able to target and get an advantage with "likely Lions George and Cowan-Dickie". I ended up with egg on my face from Turner's performance.

He isn't a complete player but if it did happen he also wouldn't be the first player to end up on a Lions tour due to being in the right position, form and fitness at the right time.

If Owens can stay fit for instance I think he'd definitely go ahead of Turner. Similar if McInally and/or Brown can get and stay fit. Those are significant ifs at the moment though. George playing short of match fitness and Cowan-Dickie not starting for England despite George's lack of game time wont help either as well. Not a position of abundant strength at the moment.

mikey_dragon wrote:As a bolter then it has to be Ioan Lloyd. Fly-half that can also play in the back 3.

How do you pronounce Ioan?

TJ wrote:Itoje the only one in the England side to look like a lion.  To me he is the only player from any country on the team sheet at the moment.  I would have him as lions captain.

He gives away a lot of penalties. I agree he is a good player but he is a bit overrated because of how effective he is when his aggressive spoiling pays off. People ignore the penalties but Gatland won't. Lawes looked good when he came on. Jonny Gray looked like a Lion on that performance but needs to back it up. James Ryan is even more overrated than Itoje IMO. Beirne could tour as a versatile forward.

Collapse2005 wrote:

mikey_dragon wrote:As a bolter then it has to be Ioan Lloyd. Fly-half that can also play in the back 3.

How do you pronounce Ioan?

Like Yo-anne, I think it's a variation of Owen which is also a name in Ireland with multiple spellings.

Thanks Mikey, I have a work contact with the same name so wanted to get it right.