11-05-2025
‘Do they really want me here?' — three Scots on life in Lions minority
For two decades from 2001, the fate belonged to Scotland's players: to be honoured with selection for the British & Irish Lions, but to go without the comfort blanket of a bunch of your compatriots.
'It's like 40-odd first dates, pretty much one after the other,' says Chris Cusiter, who was one of three Scots on the tour to New Zealand in 2005. Until the 2021 tour to South Africa, when eight Scots were selected — the same as this year's trip to Australia — they never had more than three players in the initial squad. This year the minority baton has been passed to Wales, whose sole representatives will be Jac Morgan and Tomos Williams.
'Throughout virtually my whole career, Wales were so
