It’s perhaps faintly ridiculous to say it, and this is looking at things through green-tinged glasses. Even so, on foot of a record eight Irish players being named in the British and Irish Lions starting XV to face Australia on Saturday, it also seems entirely reasonable to suggest this figure could, and even should, have been more.
Had Mack Hansen not suffered a foot injury against the AUNZ Invitational XV his all-round footballing ability may well have seen him preferred to the more prolific finishing of Tommy Freeman. And had Garry Ringrose not shown signs of a delayed concussion the day after scoring his third try in three games in the Lions’ win over the Brumbies, he’d almost certainly have been chosen to start in the First Test at Brisbane’s Suncorp Stadium.
And had that been the case, then for all his previous protestations to the contrary about picking familiar combinations, Andy Farrell might well have started Bundee Aki alongside Ringrose rather than plump for the Sione Tuipulotu-Huw Jones partnership outside Scottish team-mate Finn Russell.
How can the depleted Wallabies survive a Lions onslaught?
Yet Farrell and co have not extended that thinking to the front-row, where Ellis Genge has been chosen to start alongside Dan Sheehan and Tadhg Furlong ahead of Andrew Porter, or indeed the backrow.
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Genge was perhaps always the frontrunner at loosehead since that explosive carry against Argentina in the Aviva Stadium, and perhaps is more vocal and seen as a leader. “I think he has been an emotional driver of the team,” said Farrell. But he can be ill-disciplined and at the very least it must have been a close call with Porter who, curiously, has started only one match on this tour.
And then, perhaps most debatable of all, there’s Josh van der Flier, and Jac Morgan, losing out to Tom Curry. Likewise, van der Flier has been afforded only one start to date and has had the least minutes of the three contenders at openside.
Based on the statistics so far on tour, one could make a strong case for Van der Flier, the 2022 world Player of the Year. Of the trio, Van der Flier has beaten the most defenders, eight, compared to Curry’s five and Morgan’s four.
Van der Flier has the best tackling statistics, with 47 completed and only one missed, compared to Morgan’s 49 out of 53 and Curry’s 30, with seven missed. Morgan has also won the most turnovers, six, compared to two by Curry and one by van der Flier, while Curry has coughed up the most turnovers, five, as against four by Morgan and two by Van der Flier.
Clearly experience counted, as Curry is one of four forwards in the pack who started all three Tests four years ago, along with Jack Conan, Tadhg Furlong and Maro Itoje.
Farrell conceded that the backrow was “the hotly contested one ... and rightly so because of the quality we’ve got there.” He referenced Beirne’s set-piece, work in the jackal and as “a ball playing six” to complement Jack Conan and “the engine” of Curry.
As well as Henry Pollock and Duhan van der Merwe, Van der Flier was one of three players on Lions duty in the Great Barrier Reef on Thursday and rarely can three people have enjoyed such scant consolation from seeing one of the wonders of the world. Being confined to the team hotel in readiness for starting Saturday’s first Test would have been eminently preferable.
Farrell and his assistants have, admittedly, made Irish internationals Hugo Keenan, James Lowe, Jamison Gibson-Park, Sheehan, Furlong, Joe McCarthy, Tadhg Beirne at blindside and Jack Conan very happy, as well as three more on the bench, namely Porter, Ronan Kelleher and Aki.
But the flip side is that he’s disappointed players who have been among his go-to men over the last four years, such as Van der Flier, whom he has picked in 50 of his 56 Tests as Irish head coach, and James Ryan (49 times). But Farrell maintained these were not difficult decisions or difficult conversations.
“No, no. You picked the players originally because you know their character and you have done your homework on who you are not as familiar with. The characters who I have seen throughout the whole group I wouldn’t envisage there would be any problems along the way anyway in everyone putting the team first.”
Indeed, what was most special about this week, Farrell said, was the manner in which the non-23 in the yellow bibs played the role of the Wallabies in training.
Flipping back to the other side of the coin again, going into last season McCarthy had only one cap, against Australia in November 2022. His selection this week may have looked inevitable, but at 24 that only makes his rise even more impressive.
“He’s worked out the type of player that he wants to be,” said Farrell. “He always wanted to master the dark arts of a tighthead second row and we’ve had some learnings along the way. He’s been mature enough to sort those out and that’s why we’re seeing him play his best rugby.”
In fearlessly “walking forward” into this challenge, McCarthy could even be interpreted as a signature selection by Farrell.
“He definitely will. He’s that type of player. I’ve never really seen him take a backward step anyway, even when he came on to the scene as a youngster.
“He’s certainly grown a lot since then as far as maturity’s concerned but I’ve also seen his character and his attitude grow in the same vein and then we end up with him starting in a Lions series. It’s fantastic to see.”
“Look at the pack that we have picked, it is not just Joe,” added Farrell. “You can see that throughout. You can also see that the quality of the bench of who’s not there. You would take that at any given time in a Test match.”
AUSTRALIA: Tom Wright; Max Jorgensen, Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii, Len Ikitau, Harry Potter; Tom Lynagh, Jake Gordon; James Slipper, Matt Faessler, Allan Ala’alatoa; Nick Frost, Jeremy Williams; Nick Champion de Crespigny, Fraser McReight, Harry Wilson (capt).
Replacements: Billy Pollard, Angus Bell, Tom Robertson, Tom Hooper, Carlo Tizzano, Tate McDermott, Ben Donaldson, Andrew Kellaway.
BRITISH AND IRISH LIONS: Hugo Keenan (Ire); Tommy Freeman (Eng), Huw Jones (Sco), Sione Tuipulotu (Sco), James Lowe (Ire); Finn Russell (Sco), Jamison Gibson-Park (Ire); Ellis Genge (Eng), Dan Sheehan (Ire), Tadhg Furlong (Ire); Maro Itoje (Eng, captain), Joe McCarthy (Ire); Tadhg Beirne (Ire), Tom Curry (Eng), Jack Conan (Ire).
Replacements: Rónan Kelleher (Ire), Andrew Porter (Ire), Will Stuart (Eng), Ollie Chessum (Eng), Ben Earl (Eng), Alex Mitchell (Eng), Marcus Smith (Eng), Bundee Aki (Ire).
