It’s one of the hottest debate topics egg-chasing has to offer.
Given we live in something of a green goldfish bowl on these Irish shores, there’s no harm getting input from elsewhere.
And so we have the HarpinOnRugby Lions Selector Panel, made up of one fan from each nation, with even the Irish panellist, this week’s contributor Mark Jackson, based abroad.
Well its certainly been an interesting post 6 nations. Injured heroes returning, early season runners falling. With Mr.Gatland putting the finishing touches to his chosen few, some will need a big sprint finish to make the plane. Picking a starting XV is a personal thing with loads of variations so seeing as this is my last shot before Warren G names his squad I'm going to name the 37 I feel should be wearing the famous red jersey down under. I've gone for a 20-17 Split Forwards to Backs .
My Famous XXXVII
Full Backs - L Halfpenny, R Kearney, S Hogg
Wings - A Cuthbert, G North, T Bowe , S Maitland
Centres- J Roberts, J Davies, B O'Driscoll, M Tuilagi
Fly Halves - J Sexton , O Farrell, I Madigan
Scrum Halves - M Phillips , B Youngs , C Murray
Back Row - T Falatau , J Tipuric , SWarburton , T Wood , S O'Brien, P O'Mahony
2nd Rows - A Wyn Jones, I Evans , N Hines , P O'Connell
Hookers - R Hibbard , R Best , T Youngs
Props - C Healy , G Jenkins , R Grant , A Jones , D Cole , E Murray
Well I reckon there are probably 30 of those pretty nailed on for a seat , the third Fly half role will probably go to James Hook , third Scrum Half will be between Danny Care , Laidlaw and Murray , Richardt Strauss might come into the reckoning for 3rd Hooker spot ( would be my choice if pushed instead of T Youngs ) and Geoff Parling will be unlucky to lose out but still think he is underpowered for a top class lock .
Well it will be an interesting fortnight or so lets hope Gatland doesn't lose the plot too much with his selections .
Mark Jackson (@markusjacksonus) is an Irishman living in London, a lover of this game we call Rugby along with Gaelic Football and NFL (All Hail The New York Giants), having played it for fun and money in many countries around the globe, am now earning a crust coaching, hopefully inspiring and passing along some knowledge gained to the next generation of players.
