Andy Farrell's five key selection posers for first British & Irish Lions Test
This matters because the Wallabies will be strong at the breakdown and possess an array of jackal threats.
If Toulouse's Jack Willis were here the conversation might be different but there is probably one starting spot to be contested between Josh van der Flier, Jac Morgan, Tom Curry and Henry Pollock.
Curry had the chance to stake an unanswerable claim against the Brumbies but, in common with many others, had a tricky evening. The other three are all involved against the Australia-New Zealand Invitational XV this weekend and there remains much to play for.
The management clearly like the game-breaking ability that Pollock can offer and Morgan, despite not being the biggest of men, can be a real nuisance. Curry's work-rate will be hard to overlook unless Andy Farrell, in his quest for cohesion, simply reverts to his trusted Irish lieutenants and starts Van der Flier.
They appreciate a Big Red in Australia, whether it be kangaroos or a decent shiraz. And the flame-haired Ollie Chessum is already making an impact down under. He has been as consistently good as almost any of the Lions forwards, to the point where it will now be a major surprise if he does not feature in the Test 23.
The question is what role he should fill. The back-row balance did not look entirely right against the Brumbies and there is only one tour game left in which to fiddle around with the blend. Tadhg Beirne has played a lot of rugby this season but is he still at his sharpest? Or could the Lions conceivably go for all-out mobility and start both Beirne and Chessum in the same starting XV for the first time on this tour?
Beirne, interestingly, is back in the second row this weekend but picking him there for the first Test would mean omitting big Joe cCarthy. If Beirne has a colossal game this weekend, though, it will give the whole debate a vigorous stir.
Before the tour this was widely seen as Sione Tuipulotu's shirt to lose. But the Scotland captain has been injured and is still shaking off a touch of ring rust. Bundee Aki, on the other hand, offers a powerful simplicity at 12 that gives Finn Russell the option of using him as either a compelling decoy or a straight-up carrier. Teams may think they know what Aki is going to do but stopping him from five metres out remains easier said than done.
In theory that simplifies the equation for Tuipulotu against a physical-looking combined Au-NZ Invitational XV: crank things up or accept a Test place may have to be delayed. But what about Owen Farrell? Who would the Lions want coming off the bench in a pressure-laden Test match if, heaven forbid, Russell or even Aki were to go down early on? If Farrell Jr goes well in Adelaide, his ability to operate at both 10 and 12 makes him a genuine option for the matchday 23.
Sign up to The Breakdown
The latest rugby union news and analysis, plus all the week's action reviewed
after newsletter promotion
The selection at 12 has wider ramifications. If Aki starts, the temptation to pair him with his Ireland teammate Garry Ringrose clearly increases. Ringrose is a strong defender and may well be seen as the man to defuse the obvious threat of the Wallabies' emerging star Joseph Aukuso Sua'ali'i. The Irishman is in form, too, having scored tries in Perth, Brisbane and Canberra already on this tour.
That may mean Huw Jones will have to be patient unless he rips it up in Adelaide and shows he can offer another dimension to the Lions' attacking effectiveness in the wider channels. Again it also boils down to the collective blend: if the Lions back three is also going to be predominantly Irish it makes Ringrose the safer, more logical pick.
The moment Blair Kinghorn whacked the pitch with his hand in frustration after being injured against the Brumbies it felt ominous for the Lions. Sure enough Ireland's versatile Jamie Osborne has been summoned as cover and Farrell will have to find another full-back for next week's first Test. The situation is complicated by the fact Hugo Keenan has played only once on tour prior to this weekend because of illness. He is also a different kind of player to Kinghorn and a less obvious bench option.
So what does Farrell do? Stick with the devil he knows or roll the dice? One option could be to shift his favourite player Mack Hansen to full-back. That would permit him to start both Hansen and Tommy Freeman in Brisbane, with James Lowe's raking left boot also in the back-three mix. Marcus Smith might disagree but, right now, it would be a huge call to select the Harlequin as a starting Lions Test 15.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Daily Mail
7 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Footy legend blasts the AFL for taking all the manliness out of the sport in a woke attack on the game
Footy legend Graham Cornes has launched a blistering attack on the AFL for trying to legislate the masculinity out of football with what he sees as ' woke ' decisions that are destroying the fabric of the game. The first coach of the Adelaide Crows - who stamped himself as an all-time great during his 369-game career - is up in arms over the suspension handed to Demons defender Steven May for his shattering hit on Carlton's Francis Evans. May was banned for three weeks for rough conduct, but Melbourne are appealing the decision, which their coach Simon Goodwin and plenty of other big names from the footy world claim will change the way the game is played - and not for the better. The hit left Evans with a broken nose and concussion, and knocked one of his teeth out, but the Demons and May's other supporters claim he was just making a legitimate play at the ball. Cornes praised May as a 'fearless defender who is prepared to run straight and hard at the ball' regardless of what the opposition is doing, and said 'every team needs a player like him' because he's 'big, strong and ferocious'. But according to the South Australian footy icon, the AFL is determined to rid the game of such footballers - and in the process, take the masculinity out of the sport. 'This is not an endorsement of football thuggery, more a condemnation of the steady erosion of the manly qualities - yes, I used the term manly - that helped make AFL the greatest team sport in the world, Cornes wrote for News Corp. 'Yes, the game has changed, but it is not living in the past to lament the deterioration of the sport's masculinity.' Cornes went on to say that May was in the right because he and Evans were both competing for the ball and neither had any way of knowing which one of them would get there first. Despite that, the tribunal found a 'reasonable player' would have avoided the collision if they were in May's place. Cornes took that to mean the AFL wants its stars to pull out of the contest - and pointed out that doing so, which is known as 'shirking', is one of the most embarrassing and career-threatening things a footballer can be accused of. 'The humiliation of such actions and accusations stay with a footballer for life,' he wrote. 'Careers have been terminated because players have shirked the contest.' May is heavier and taller than Evans, and Cornes said that while the smaller men in the sport need protection, incidents like the hit will keep on occurring. 'We don't know what they [players] weigh these days because the AFL in its leaning to wokeness doesn't put the weights of players in their official record, which had previously been the case,' Cornes said. Cornes isn't the only big name to slam the league for being woke. Last month, St Kilda legend Nick Riewoldt called the league's top brass 'social justice warriors' for not demoting executive general manager of football Laura Kane sooner. Kane became a lightning rod for criticism this season over issues such as the Willie Rioli saga, the standard of umpiring and AFL miscommunication around what happened when Collingwood player Lachie Schultz was concussed in a game against Fremantle. 'If the AFL weren't so consumed with being social justice warriors, Laura Kane would have been moved aside 12 months ago,' Riewoldt said. 'It is (a win) now. Either the role was too big, or she was the wrong person (for the job).' Melbourne's case to have May's suspension quashed will be heard on Monday night. 'We think he had a play on the ball and it was a football incident,' Goodwin said after the Demons confirmed they would appeal the Tribunal's decision. 'From my perspective, that's ultimately the argument that we'll go with. 'Clearly there's some legal stuff that they'll go through in terms of the case as part of the appeal.
Daily Mail
2 hours ago
- Daily Mail
Footy bad boy Jordan De Goey reveals baby joy with his TV star girlfriend Aisha Jade McKinnon
Collingwood star Jordan De Goey has revealed he and partner Aisha Jade McKinnon are expecting their first child, calling the joyful news 'the greatest surprise of them all'. The couple made the big reveal on Instagram, sharing a photo of De Goey's hands cradling McKinnon's baby bump, accompanied by an ultrasound video and a clip of the moment the overjoyed Magpies forward found out he is going to be a dad. 'In the midst of our changing lives we were blessed with the greatest surprise of them all, baby girl coming soon,' read the caption on the post. Their announcement drew congratulatory messages from De Goey's teammates Isaac Quaynor and Mason Cox, as well as Annalise Dalins, the fiancée of Pies star Josh Daicos. McKinnon - who starred on Big Brother and is forging a career in fashion design - made their romance official last October when they attended Collingwood's best and fairest night. The couple have bought a farm together and McKinnon has previously opened up about her man's reputation as a bad boy off the field. The footy glamour couple are due to have a daughter - with the announcement drawing messages of congratulations from other AFL stars De Goey briefly ended up in a New York jail in October 2021 after pleading not guilty to a charge of forcible touching in a New York night club, and he made headlines in 2022 when a video emerged of him touching and exposing a woman's breast at a nightclub in Bali. The 29-year-old was slammed by fans and footy experts when he said he had 'made mistakes' because he has attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. 'Late last year, I was diagnosed with ADHD and I am trying to become more aware of why I make mistakes that I do. I have again made a mistake – this is an ongoing journey for me – and I remain absolutely committed to changing,' De Goey said in an official Collingwood statement. He joked that he would have to 'lock himself inside his house to stay out of trouble' before going on to star for Collingwood as they won the premiership in 2023. 'It's sad because I know a very different Jordy,' McKinnon said in December last year. 'He's really lovely. We definitely value our privacy, we connected on that, and we both have unique jobs and support each other.' De Goey has only played five games this year as premiership favourites Collingwood sit atop the ladder. Problems with his Achilles tendon and concussion have kept him out of the AFL since round nine, but he took a big step on Saturday as he played in the VFL.
The Guardian
2 hours ago
- The Guardian
‘Get out of my way': how St Kilda's Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera entered AFL folklore
The hottest property in the AFL happens to have the coolest head in the game. St Kilda sensation Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera completed his sparkling rise from a damaging defender and one of the most exciting midfielders in the competition, to a proven match-winner after icing two goals in the final minute that sealed a historic comeback against Melbourne. The 22-year-old has already shown he can do it all at both ends. But it is rare for a player to have a game-changing impact in all areas of the field in one game, let alone in a single breathtaking quarter that helped turn Sunday's contest. Wanganeen-Milera started the game taking on the Demons' decorated on-ball brigade, but with the Saints trailing by 46 points at the final change he was soon taking the kick ins, connecting play through the midfield and drifting forward to be a target in attack. The defender-turned-allrounder gathered 10 disposals as the Saints came from the clouds to chase down the Demons in the final term. But it is Wanganeen-Milera's last minute of action at Marvel Stadium that will go down in folklore. It is a tale that even the humble Saints star struggled to explain. 'I don't know, I'm a bit speechless,' Wanganeen-Milera told Channel 7 immediately after the game. 'It just sort of happened, I flew for it. But my teammates did a great job in the last quarter, the pressure was unreal, we just kept fighting and fighting.' The Demons led by a goal with less than a minute left on the clock when Saints midfielder Mason Wood received a handball after a boundary throw-in on the wing and bombed the ball into the forward 50. Wanganeen-Milera first made his name as a rebounding half-back and has shown plenty of promise since moving into the midfield, but with the game on the line he soared over Bailey Fritsch to pull down a screamer in front of Demons defender Judd McVee within sight of goal. The exquisitely-skilled Wanganeen-Milera could hardly have split the middle better as he nailed the set shot to level the scores with only eight seconds remaining and leave the Saints looking like the only side thinking about victory. While the young St Kilda players were calm and composed amid the chaos that followed, even the most experienced Demons lost their heads as they turned the ball over with a 6-6-6 infringement for not having enough players set up in each area of the ground. The Saints trio of Rowan Marshall, Marcus Windhager and Wanganeen-Milera quickly concocted a plan at the centre bounce for the ruck to take the free kick and pick out the man of the moment charging forward. A pinpoint pass from Marshall was enough to find Wanganeen-Milera just inside the 50m arc as he bravely marked while falling backwards. He and sprung back to his feet before the siren sounded. 'I just told the forwards, 'get out of my way', and then I told Rowan, 'just hit me on the left side', and it was lucky I got on the end of it,' Wanganeen-Milera said. With the result resting on his young shoulders, Wanganeen-Milera only needed a point to clinch the greatest comeback from a three-quarter-time deficit in VFL/AFL history. It was no surprise to see his lethal right foot send the ball through the middle again for the icing on the cake of a stunning six-point triumph. Wanganeen-Milera finished with 34 disposals, nine score involvements, six clearances and a career-high four goals in just the latest display as his career keeps reaching for new heights. Sign up to From the Pocket: AFL Weekly Jonathan Horn brings expert analysis on the week's biggest AFL stories after newsletter promotion If only to add to the mythical performance, coach Ross Lyon revealed after the game that the Saints' hero of the day was on the brink of being a late withdrawal from the game due to a stye in his eye before getting the all-clear from the club doctor. '[The doctor] said 'Nas has come in, [we've] upped his antibiotics, given him an injection,' Lyon said. 'I mean, they can sound quite morbid at times, the doctors. I just said, 'how's Nas', he's pretty confident. Then I rang him, he goes, 'no, I'll be right'. But I just said, if you're not right, no pressure, we'll tap you out.' There will be a sense of relief as much as elation around the Saints' camp that Wanganeen-Milera was available to take on the Demons, but both will only grow if the speedster commits his long-term future to the club. The step son of former St Kilda player Terry Milera and nephew of former Port Adelaide and Essendon great Gavin Wanganeen owns the most sought-after signature in the game, as he comes out of contract while being courted by both clubs in his home state of South Australia. Wanganeen-Milera has already ensured that St Kilda is etched in the record books for their fightback, but the club that drafted him at No 11 in 2021 AFL draft live in hope that his incredible performance against Melbourne was just one of many memorable moments to come in red, white and black.
