That was the week that was, and it’s hard not to view the unveiling of the 38-man British & Irish Lions squad in the context of Leinster‘s 37-34 Champions Cup semi-final defeat by Northampton five days previously. Certainly, they will have been the two primary and intertwined talking points among the province’s supporters this past week. The only two probably.
Clearly, and understandably, Andy Farrell and co weren’t overly influenced by the dramatic events at the Aviva Stadium last Saturday, but in plumping for a record 12 Leinster players as against four from Northampton it certainly doesn’t portray Leo Cullen, Jacques Nienaber et al in a good light.
After all, how can a team with a dozen players deemed good enough to be in the Lions’ squad lose at home to a team with a quartet of players who would be named in the Lions’ squad five days later? Hopefully the celebrations over the inclusion of 12 players in Thursday’s squad announcement will have lightened the mood in Leinster’s HPC in UCD and been a timely fillip for the organisation. But even they must be asking themselves the same question.
Who is in the most Irish Lions squad of all time and why?
What’s more, of course, this doesn’t include other players in the Leinster team last Saturday, namely the cruelly unfortunate Caelan Doris, the dual World Cup-winning RG Snyman, a two-time Lion in Robbie Henshaw and their multi-capped World Cup finalist and quarter-final man of the match Jordie Barrett.
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Granted, Leinster lost Doris in the 57th minute and, of their own volition, left Barrett on the bench for the first 50 minutes, but even so their bench was vastly better stacked (358 Test caps as against Northampton’s seven) and Ryan Baird had a good impact after replacing the injured captain. All of which, of course, makes the decision not to go for the posts in the 76th minute no less unfathomable now.
It’s ironic, of course, that Ireland’s English-born coach has broken the Lions mould by including four of his coaching staff among his Lions’ assistants and risked incurring English displeasure by also picking more Irish players, 15 to 13.
In the process, though, were the Lions not to beat Australia in the Test series Farrell’s approach is liable to be questioned even more by the more sizeable English media. Indeed, not just them.
Writing in his weekly column with the Irish Examiner this week, Ronan O’Gara observed: “There are 12 Leinster lads heading with Andy Farrell on the Lions tour and they have some amount of points to prove because their seasons with Ireland were poor and now this [Champions Cup semi-final defeat] with their club.”
The former Munster, Irish and Lions’ outhalf added: “If Farrell hadn’t already made his mind up, Saturday was confirmation that Australia is too soon for Prendergast. The 10 jersey for Ireland’s summer tour will be interesting now vis-a-vis Jack Crowley.”
Most likely Farrell had made his mind up before the semi-final, but in any event Fin Smith’s performance would have cemented his place after his successful elevation to England’s starting outhalf in the Six Nations. One ventures Prendergast also missed out in part because Blair Kinghorn’s Toulouse commitments could see him miss the start of the tour, which in turn heightens the value of Marcus Smith being able to cover fullback as well as outhalf.
It’s a shame that Prendergast, and by extension Ireland and Leinster, will not benefit from the experience of a Lions tour as O’Gara himself did when he first became a Lion on the tour to Australia in 2001.
“For me, the 2001 Lions tour was the biggest eye-opener ever,” O’Gara has said. “We were extremely lucky that batch of Irish players that went on that to see 24 months later that core of the Lions team winning the World Cup with England. It was scary how far ahead they were.”
Last Saturday’s semi-final was a mixed, and at times difficult, day for Prendergast, but he only just turned 22 during the Six Nations and has just eight caps. Let’s cut him some slack.
O’Gara was just shy of his 23rd birthday when he made his Test debut and Johnny Sexton had turned 24 when he did so. Both of their careers underlined that, bar the chosen few like Dan Carter and Jonny Wilkinson, outhalf is the position in which tough learning days and a bulletproof vest are almost compulsory.
