Deans surprised at Best’s exclusion
Despite an indifferent Six Nations with Ireland, Ulster hooker Best was expected to be among the 37 names when Lions head coach Warren Gatland announced his party for the 10-game tour, which begins in Hong Kong against the Barbarians on June 1 and culminates with a three-Test series against fellow New Zealander Deans’s Wallabies between June 22 and July 6.
In addition to Wales’s Richard Hibbard and England’s Tom Youngs, Gatland chose England’s Dylan Hartley ahead of Best, raising some eyebrows in Australia.
“One player that stands out as being really unlucky was Rory Best,” Deans said yesterday. “But overall it’s a very strong squad, a lot of these blokes are experienced touring with the Lions and that will stand them in good stead. There wasn’t a great deal of surprise. There were probably never going to be that many anyway. A lot of the players were obvious picks weren’t they?
“We are pretty familiar with the playing group. In this situation there are always unlucky players when there are so many good players available.”
While Simon Zebo’s omission from a wing berth in favour of New Zealand-born Scotland back Sean Maitland has been questioned, Deans backed his former compatriot to thrive in the conditions in Australia.
“They are both very good wings. There is no doubt Sean is a bolter but he is a point of difference player. I know him well. We got him down from Waikato to the Crusaders and he was a point of difference to us. The last time we won (the Super Rugby title) in 2008 he made a difference. I was surprised to see him leave New Zealand to be honest because there is no doubt he is able to play at this level and he showed that in the Six Nations. He is also familiar with the conditions and a lot of our players.”
Many thought following a standout performance for Toulon in last weekend’s Heineken Cup semi-finals that Jonny Wilkinson was worth a spot as a third fly-half behind Jonny Sexton and Owen Farrell. But the former England star is committed to his French club’s pursuit of a Top-14-Heineken Cup double, a campaign that meant he could miss the start of the Lions tour.
“We saw Jonny play very well on the weekend and wondered whether he may come. (England captain) Chris Robshaw is unlucky, I would have thought. He did well in the Six Nations and could have won the Grand Slam.”
Deans was not surprised by the strong Welsh representation in Gatland’s squad, particularly given the way they swept aside the English in the final game of the Six Nations to take the championship for a second year in a row.
“That final result against Wales probably changed a lot of things, including selection. That must have had a big bearing,” Deans said. “Certainly the nucleus of the group are Welsh players, 15 I think. That is a big turn around from losing their first game against Ireland.”
And Deans believes that the 15 Welshmen in the squad, including Lions captain Sam Warburton, spread across every position except for fly-half, is a good indicator to the style of play the Lions will adopt in the Test series.
“The best insight we had of what it’s going to be like was that final RBS 6 Nations fixture (Wales v England). It was brutal, relentless for 80 minutes,” Deans said. ”
“There’s no doubt they’ll play to their strengths. They’ve got an experienced group and they’re not going to remodel the way they play. It will be very much gain-line oriented. They’ve gone back to what they know.”
Deans, though, distanced himself from headlines in the Australian media alluding to the expected physical style of the Lions with one Sydney newspaper journalist describing Gatland’s players as “slabs of red meat”.
“I’ve no idea where that comment came from,” he said. “We have a lot of respect for what’s coming.”
Deans announces a 25-man Wallabies squad for the series on May 19 which will be augmented by six players after the Super Rugby matches on the weekend of June 8, the same weekend the Lions face the Queensland Reds in Brisbane.
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