Irish stars still stand out in year of the French

IF THERE was a Lions tour this summer, Eddie O’Sullivan would be nailed on as head coach after standing head and shoulders over his opposite numbers over the past few months.

However, picking a Lions Test team would be a much tougher proposition with several positions short of the quality required to take on the All Blacks in their own backyard. And if you picked a Six Nations team, you would inevitably look at France and Ireland with little left for any of the other nations.

As for the Lions, a very fair case could be made for the inclusion of the entire Irish back division. If only to avoid a charge of bias, we will give the scrum-half berth to Dwayne Peel ahead of Peter Stringer and England’s Harry Ellis and the Welsh would also go for Shane Williams on the left wing. But Denis Hickie has been so good over the season he has to get in.