British Lions squad for NZ tour announced

An embarrassment in many ways. Wales had a very mediocre 6 Nations, which is the most recent tournament to confirm form before this Lions tour. So what does the Welsh coach/ British Lions coach do in a very non-impartial manner? Yes, ignore the Ireland and England captains and install his own captain.

As for the great Scottish improvement in this recent 6 Nations, ranked 5th in the world and who beat both Wales and Ireland. This is a slap in the face. And it goes against everything to do with the British Lions, which is supposed to be about selecting across all home nations. If there was ever a time for Scotland to have their largest numer of squad members in a Lions tour, this was the opportunity.

We all knew it before. Gatland is a New Zealander who only has experience in Wales. And from his previous Lions selection we knew the Welsh would be top-heavy despite finishing 3rd of 6 in the 6 Nations.

Yep, largely agree TTD although I still think a couple more English players & possibly Scots will make the final squad (there will be injuries in coming weeks no question).

Launchbury in particular is extremely unlucky. High work rate, best tackler of the last 6N, can play 4 and 6 yet Gatland preferred a bloke like AWJ!? That's bias all right. Same with Halfpenny and Biggar, cred/CV rather current form at club/NT level.

Still a quality squad but imo too conservative at 9/10 (laidlaw/russell vs a.smith/barrett would have been interesting, at least for test 2 if things don't go Lions way in the first game).

What shocked me gold was when I properly checked the 6 Nations table this morning. Wales only finished above Italy! And were beaten by Scotland.

Launchbury had a huge tournament and won numerous man of the match awards during the 6 Nations.

Gatland has made a rod for his own back here. The chances are that the All Blacks will dominate this tour, especially with the tough schedule. So Gatland's bias will be thrown back at him. If Gatland had correctly selected mainly English and Irish players, then part of the blame could have been directed towards England not performing. A lost series down in New Zealand will be blamed on the Welsh bias.