Gatland picks a squad to meet Springboks’ physical challenge head on

Ireland left with most hard luck stories as Sexton, Ryan and Ringrose miss out

British and Irish Lions head coach Warren Gatland announced his 37-man squad on Thursday - with no place on it for Johnny Sexton. Photograph: Inpho

British and Irish Lions head coach Warren Gatland announced his 37-man squad on Thursday - with no place on it for Johnny Sexton. Photograph: Inpho

Warren Gatland and his assistant coaches will have been relieved when they’d completed their round of media duties yesterday. Coming hard on the heels of a particularly difficult selection meeting before finalising their 37-man Lions squad to tour South Africa, as is usually the case national identity fuelled much of the inquisition.

The Scots seemed close to delirious with eight players, their highest representation since 1989, and the Welsh were pretty satisfied with having 10 albeit with misgivings about the exclusion of Jonathan Davies, player of the tour four years ago, and Josh Navidi.

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