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 based abroad.
This week it’s the turn of our Scottish panellist Kirsten Bruce.
International rugby is back – and I’m far too excited!
With the autumn internationals going on over the next few weeks, I can see there being many changes to my Lions team. Already there are 2 or 3 injury-enforced changes – Ross Rennie dislocated his shoulder in Scotlands loss to New Zealand, and Alun Wyn Jones injured in Wales loss to Argentina. Euan Murray has been dropped as I haven’t seen him play as yet – he gets his chance on Saturday. Geoff Cross had an immense game against New Zealand, and is unlucky to be dropped to the bench for Scotland’s match against South Africa. Charlie Sharples in for George North. Not because North isn’t good, purely because Sharples is better at the minute.
England was the only British team to win at the weekend, but Scotland should take a lot of heart from their performance against world champions, New Zealand. Tim Visser proved again why he is the top try scorer in the Celtic League, scoring two tries against the Number One team in the world.
So here goes…
1. Cian Healy
2. Ross Ford
3. Geoff Cross
4. Richie Gray
5. Ian Evans
6. Kelly Brown
7. Chris Robshaw
8. Jamie Heaslip
9. Eoin Reddan
10. Jonathon Sexton
11. Tim Visser
12. Manu Tuilagi
13. Tommy Bowe
14. Charlie Sharples
15. Leigh Halfpenny
Replacements: 16. Sean Cronin 17. Gethin Jenkins 18. Euan Murray 19. Jim Hamilton 20. Ben Morgan21. Danny Care 22. Greig Laidlaw 23. Stuart Hogg
I’m Kirsten. Some who read this may follow me on twitter (@kirstenbruce_02). I’m a big Scotland supporter, so apologies if I am a little bit biased. Also, big thanks to Jeff (@HarpinOnRugby) for allowing me to be involved – it’s sure to be challenging but a great experience!
Kirsten’s selections mean there have been two changes to the HoR Composite Lions XV – follow this link to see how the overall side is looking. As always, feel free to leave comments, but please remember two things (1) it’s all about different people’s opinions so please show respect, and (2) your opinion carries a lot more weight if you at least put a nickname to it.
Next week, the third round of selections comes to an end with the latest from our Irish panellist.
