Friday, August 3 seems an age ago now to rugby fans. Declan Kidney was Ireland coach. The All Blacks’ unbeaten record was still going. Danny Cipriani hadn’t been attacked by public transport (he’s out of hospital now so it’s ok to make with the jokes).
On that day, here on the HoR2 blog we introduced the “Lions Selector Panel”. Since then, every Friday morning the four panellists (one blogger from each Lions nation) would select their Test XV and I would put the four together to produce a starting team by committee. Not exactly the most ideal way of picking a team I’ll grant you, but then again it’s not like we had a final say or anything!
The point of the project was for bloggers who live outside the “Irish goldfish bowl” to give their take on the selection. Sure, here in Ireland we all know which of our stars we feel should be on the plane, but that may not always be how others see it. Also, just naming a team can get a debate going, and for the most part the response to their selections has been, shall we say, “robust”.
And so we come ever closer to next Tuesday, April 30, the day Warren Gatland will formally announce his touring party. Since each of our panellists have made nine contributions to date, I thought I’d take today’s post and get their final judgements.
So here we have the latest selections of the four panellists, followed by the final “Composite XV” when you put them all together.
ENGLAND – Rich Church-Keen
15 Halfpenny 14 Cuthbert 13 O’Driscoll 12 Roberts 11 North 10 Sexton 9 Phillips
1 Healy 2 Hibbard 3 Adam Jones 4 AW Jones 5 Hamilton 6 O’Brien 7 Warburton 8 Beattie
My name is Richard Church-Keen, born in Coventry, live in Dudley, yet by God's grace, I'm a diehard Gloucester Rugby and also an England rugby fan (and yes, in that order). I'm a rugby mad husband to a rugby mad wife with a rugby mad stepson and indeed, rugby has taken over every facet of my life. I am a chef by day, and #RugbyUnited’s charity director and blogger in chief by night. Oh. And a twitter addict (@RichC_K)!!!
WALES – Hywel Davies
15 Halfpenny 14 Liam Williams 13 Tuilagi 12 Davies 11 North 10 Madigan 9 Phillips
1 Grant 2 Hibbard 3 Adam Jones 4 AW Jones 5 Evans 6 Wood 7 Tipuric 8 O’Brien
Hywel (@HywelV2) is head Rugby writer on the v2 Journal. A bundle of contradictions, he is a Solicitor and Farmer, a Scarlets supporter and a "conservative, forward orientated typical blydi prop".
SCOTLAND – Kirsten Bruce
15 Halfpenny 14 Cuthbert 13 Tuilagi 12 O’Driscoll 11 Visser 10 Sexton 9 Murray
1 Healy 2 Ford 3 Adam Jones 4 AW Jones 5 Hamilton 6 Warburton 7 Tipuric 8 Beattie
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!
IRELAND – Mark Jackson
15 Halfpenny 14 Bowe 13 O’Driscoll 12 Roberts 11 North 10 Sexton 9 Phillips
1 Healy 2 Hibbard 3 Adam Jones 4 Evans 5 O’Connell 6 Warburton 7 Tipuric 8 O’Brien
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.
PANEL CHAIRMAN – JL Pagano
My only role as “chairman” has been to put the four panellists’ selections together to form the “composite” side, and the only time I have a say in decision-making is when there is a tie for a particular position.
So here you have it, right before Mr Gatland tells us who he is bringing to Australia, the final HoR Lions Selector Panel Composite XV :
15 LEIGH HALFPENNY (WALES)
14 ALEX CUTHBERT (WALES)
13 BRIAN O’DRISCOLL (IRELAND)
12 JAMIE ROBERTS (WALES)
11 GEORGE NORTH (WALES)
10 JONATHAN SEXTON (IRELAND)
9 MIKE PHILLIPS (WALES)
1 CIAN HEALY (IRELAND)
2 RICHARD HIBBARD (WALES)
3 ADAM JONES (WALES)
4 ALUN-WYN JONES (WALES)
5 JIM HAMILTON (SCOTLAND)
6 SAM WARBURTON (WALES)
7 JUSTIN TIPURIC (WALES)
8 SEAN O’BRIEN (IRELAND)
As you can see, not a single Englishman! Manu Tuilagi came the closest, tying with BOD on 2 votes for the 13 position but the Irishman also got a vote at 12 so gets the nod. Personally I very much doubt there won’t be a red-rose wearer in the test XV but then again there’s a decent case to be made for all the fifteen named above so we’ll have to see how Warren sorts it all out!
I’d like to take this opportunity to thank all the panellists for getting their posts in when their turns came up, it has been interesting to see their selections evolve over the course of the season. For example, here is the composite XV based on the panellists’ selections last August before the season began : Halfpenny, Bowe, O’Driscoll, Davies, North, Sexton, Phillips. Jenkins, Ford, Adam Jones, Gray, Evans, Lydiate, Warburton, Heaslip.
Now we can formally hand over the real responsibility to Warren G. Bring it on!
