Donal Lenihan: Warren Gatland has always been a shrewd judge of men

He has always been his own man, never afraid to stray beyond the obvious candidates when appointing a captain

Conor Murray at a British & Irish Lions Tour squad training session in, Jersey. Picture: INPHO/Dan Sheridan

LIONS tours are challenging at the best of times but even before the squad assembled in Jersey for their pre tour camp a few weeks ago, the trek to South Africa was set to be the most demanding of all, mostly for a variety of non-rugby reasons.

The global pandemic and the most recent worrying surge that has plunged South Africa into a level four lockdown has cast a shadow over the validity of the tour and the prospects of it proceeding as originally scheduled.