Pundits split on tour selection
Barnes also reiterated the view he held prior to Tuesday’s Lions selection that Brian O’Driscoll should be Lions captain. However, significantly, he expects the Lions management to borrow some plays from the Munster’s game-plan for the 10-match, three-Test tour across South Africa.
“Munster have eight players in this squad, which is an incredible achievement,” he told the London Times website. “They have matched England in terms of numbers.
“They have got the best team in Europe, but the squad is a reflection not only of the kind of game you want to play, but also the mentality that might be needed to win games. Since the last Lions tour, Munster have won two out of three European Cups and they believe they are on course for another one. These guys are winners.”
There was general acceptance amongst Fleet Street’s finest that the Irish and Welsh deserved their Lions recognition, but some were stunned at the omission of England and Leicester flanker, Tom Croft, from Ian McGeechan’s 37-man squad.
Barnes felt McGeechan has eschewed “stardust” for a more conservative squad selection and was surprised at Croft’s omission. “The decision to leave Tom Croft out has left me absolutely stunned and I just feel the inclusion of Stephen Ferris, Alan Quinlan and Joe Worsley is too conservative.”
David Hands in The London Times suggested that Croft would be a more worthy inclusion than Quinlan. “With Quinlan they (Lions management) know what they will be getting, an abrasive individual who never takes a backward step but that he should have ousted Tom Croft from a place is a startling decision.”
Hands also cast aspersions over Keith Earls’ ability to take the step up from Heineken Cup to Lions level.
“Earls at this level is an unknown quantity,” wrote Hands. “He played against Canada in November and scored a try with his first touch of the ball but played no part in this year’s RBS Six Nations Championship which ended, of course, with Ireland’s first grand slam for 61 years.”
Mick Cleary wrote in The Daily Telegraph that the Lions face “a brutal, forensic, unremitting examination of their very being……. (and) that is why veteran Munster hard-man Alan Quinlan, whose 35th birthday falls shortly after the third Test in early July, has been chosen ahead of England’s bright young thing, Tom Croft.”
Cleary reckons Quinlan will play a major part with the Midweek Lions, and the Munster man’s inclusion is “to keep the midweek side honest.” Quinlan, he believes, can “bring his selfless character to the fore, to set the tone for the Test team. It is all about creating the right mood: a merciless, unforgiving environment on the field, a fun, one-for-all feel away from it. If there was one selection that summed up the Lions’ attitude, that was it.”
The Guardian’s Robert Kitson says the summer’s Test Series will certainly not feature a “a bunch of red-shirted pussycats”, adding that the physicality of Paul O’Connell-led Lions will be a handful for the World Cup holders.
“As late as yesterday (Monday) morning, the hard-nosed theme continued to hold sway when Ian McGeechan, having slept on it overnight, decided the über-experienced Munster flanker Alan Quinlan was a better bet than the richly talented Leicester gazelle Tom Croft.
“Three national captains, in Ryan Jones, Steve Borthwick and Mike Blair, have also been overlooked in favour of more physical alternatives. Short of issuing the players with tour blazers cut from chain mail, the Lions could scarcely have made their intentions clearer.
“The reasoning is simple: South Africa did not get to be world champions without indulging in a serious amount of bosh. Therefore [the Lions] have been invited to respond in kind.”
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