With this summer's rugby test schedule now wrapping up, we are just 12 months away from the first test of the Lions' 2025 tour to Australia.
Andy Farrell is set to lead the team Down Under, where he will face off with former Ireland colleague Joe Schmidt. The Wallabies have been in dire straits over the last couple of years, although there is an expectation that Schmidt will field a vastly improved side by the time this series rolls around.
From a Lions perspective, there seems to be quite a bit of competition for places developing in the squad. Ireland have been one of the best teams in the world for a number of years, while England are now steadily improving under Steve Borthwick. Couple that with some talented players from Scotland and Wales, all of a sudden you have a very deep playing pool to choose from.
While we may be a year removed from that first test in Brisbane, some rugby pundits are already predicting what the Lions team might look like.
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Rugby: Irish Fans Won't Be Impressed With Wales Legend's Lions XV
With Andy Farrell acting as head coach and Ireland having been the best team in the Six Nations in recent times, you might expect to see an Irish-heavy XV take to the field against Australia next summer. However, not everyone sees it that way.
Wales rugby legend Sam Warburton has selected his team for the opening test and it is unlikely to impress Irish rugby fans.
Writing in The Times, he selected a team that featured more English players than Ireland ones (six to five). Not only that, but he inexplicably left the likes of Caelan Doris and Hugo Keenan out of the side, two players widely considered as nailed on starters for the Lions.
He would also make the only Welshman in the team his captain. Here is his starting side and replacements in full:
Blair Kinghorn (Scotland); Tommy Freeman (England), Robbie Henshaw (Ireland), Sione Tuipulotu (Scotland), Duhan van der Merwe (Scotland); Marcus Smith (England), Jamison Gibson-Park (Ireland); Ellis Genge (England), Dan Sheehan (Ireland), Tadhg Furlong (Ireland), George Martin (England), Joe McCarthy (Ireland), Ollie Chessum (England), Jac Morgan (Wales, capt), Ben Earl (England).
Replacements: Andrew Porter (Ireland), Dewi Lake (Wales), Archie Griffin (Wales), Maro Itoje (England), Caelan Doris (Ireland), Alex Mitchell (England), Finn Russell (Scotland), Immanuel Feyi-Waboso (England).
Caelan Doris has been tipped in many circles to captain the Lions next summer, making his absence from the XV a very strange one.
Here's what Warburton had to say about the decision to leave both him and Keenan out of the team:
It was a tight one at No 8, because I think you’ve got three great eights at the minute. Wainwright played extremely well in the summer. Caelan Doris is obviously Ireland’s captain, but I’ve gone for Ben Earl.
He is simply world-class and because Chessum is at six you do not have to worry about him and Morgan not being particularly tall men...
At full back I’ve thrown a bit of a curveball with the selection of Blair Kinghorn. I like Hugo Keenan but I just think Kinghorn has just gone to another level at Toulouse this year.
Strange decisions.
The picture for the Lions squad could look very different by the time next summer rolls around, but as things currently stand, it seems inexplicable to select more England rugby players than those from Ireland.
You get the sense that Andy Farrell is unlikely to go down the same route.
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