Gregor Townsend optimistic about prospects for Scottish Lions hopefuls
Yesterday at 06:05 PM
SCOTLAND head coach Gregor Townsend believes several of his players boosted their British & Irish Lions selection prospects through their performance against France on Saturday night– and he says the more players he loses to the famous touring side in Australia this summer the better, even if that leaves his own limited player resources stretched for a three-match trip to New Zealand and the Pacific Islands.
“I would hope that there would be more in the mix after this game,” said Townsend, immediately after his team’s 35-16 loss to France. “I know we chatted to Andy Farrell [the Lions head coach] after the England game and he liked the way we played down there in a tough venue. I’m sure they’d be thinking the same thing after tonight’s performance.
“I really hope we have a lot missing. We have a challenge on tour in the summer. One game is going to be very tough and decisive which is Fiji. It’s important for our world ranking points as well. Winning is going to be a challenge. It will also be a good experience to be in New Zealand for two weeks [playing the Māori All Blacks and another international team whose identity is still to be confirmed]. We’ve not been there since 2000. So our players are going to get a great learning opportunity.
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“It will be as strong a [Scotland] squad as we can take. If we do have a few players in the Lions, that’s a good thing for our depth. Last year we took a lot of younger players out on the summer tour. We’ll be taking a strong squad this year. Let’s hope we’re missing a few and we can take a few young guys.”
Townsend indicated that he does not expect to be involved in the Lions tour and was tight-lipped about the possibility of any other members of the Scottish coaching team getting a call from Farrell
“We had a good meeting two or three weeks ago and we went through a lot of players,” Townsend added. “Not just the players that are currently in our Six Nations squad but players that are missing.
“I’m sure he’s had that meeting with all the coaches but I was really encouraged after that that he thinks highly of our players. The Six Nations is the biggest factor in selection, how our players go in the Six Nations and in terms of performance there in Paris and at Twickenham, they did very well.
Scotland had eight players in the initial Lions squad for the 2021 tour to South Africa – Rory Sutherland, Zander Fagerson, Hamish Watson, Ali Price, Finn Russell, Chris Harris, Duhan van der Merwe and Stuart Hogg – with Fagerson, Russell and van der Merwe among the current crop of players most likely to make the Australia trip.
Other contenders from Saturday’s game are Pierre Schoeman, Rory Darge, Jamie Ritchie, Ben White, Huw Jones, Darcy Graham and Blair Kinghorn. Injured players Sione Tuipulotu, Scott Cummings, Max Williamson (as a very wild-card pick) and Jack Dempsey will also hope to be in the conversation.
In reality, five or six players on the tour would be a pretty decent outcome for a team that finishes fourth in the Six Nations.
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