England starting to look like Lions

JEREMY GUSCOTT

OUTSPOKEN AND UNMISSABLE… EVERY WEEK

A year out from the 2025 Lions tour of Australia it’s still hard to imagine that the Irish will not dominate the squad selected by head coach Andy Farrell.

Despite Ireland‘s loss to England in the Six Nations, and Leinster’s defeat by Toulouse in last weekend’s European Cup final, the Irish are still the side setting the highest levels of performance and consistency in Northern Hemisphere rugby.

However, England players have a much better chance of challenging for Lions places now than they did in the middle of the Six Nations. They were pretty ordinary until the stunning performance against Ireland, and then attacked strongly enough to have a chance of beating France in Lyon, before being edged out.

I gave England an overall tournament score of 6.5 out of 10 and, although we need more evidence of whether they have truly turned the corner, the indications are that they are back as an international force.

Pre-World Cup we had Ireland, France, New Zealand and South Africa as the top tier Test nations, any of whom could have beaten the other. Below that were Scotland, England, Wales, Argentina, Australia, and Fiji – but if England do well on their summer tour against New Zealand, it will put English players strongly back in Lions contention.

There was a danger of dipping after losing players as influential as Owen Farrell, when he retired at international level before the Six Nations. But the good news is the way new England captain Jamie George has made such a strong transition in taking over the leadership.

George could also be a contender for the 2025 Lions captaincy because it is so important to bring the tour party together very quickly – and the Saracens hooker has showed with England the positive influence he has because of his empathy, trustworthiness, putting the team first, and communications skills.

However, the front runner for the captaincy is Caelan Doris. The Ireland and Leinster No.8 ticks all the boxes in terms of being a Test starter, leading from the front, and being a key figure in the historic Irish series win in New Zealand in 2022, and in their 2023 Grand Slam.

Their track record, with Ireland also retaining the Six Nations title this season, is why the likes of Andrew Porter, Dan Sheehan and Tadhg Furlong are a potential Lions Test front row, while impressive new kid on the block Joe McCarthy is a second row contender alongside Tadhg Beirne.

Add to that an Irish back row contingent that, even without Doris, is overflowing with talent like Josh van der Flier, Ryan Baird, Jack Conan and veteran Peter O’Mahony, and the competition for places in the Lions pack – and the back row in particular – will be off the charts.

Even an obvious England contender like Ben Earl might have a job getting past the Irish back row candidates, although he and the England squad who face New Zealand this summer have a great opportunity to put down a Lions marker.

New Zealand may be under a new coach in Scott Robertson, but the 2023 World Cup finalists are usually very good – and very rarely anything under that. Robertson is the sort of coach who will be aiming for even higher skill levels, and although the All Blacks are losing a few established players I’ve no doubt new stars are coming through.

Opposition of that calibre gives England players the chance to rise to the challenge. For example, over the next six months England play the All Blacks three times – twice in New Zealand in July, and again at Twickenham in November – and if a player like Earl had three good games against a player of Ardie Savea’s quality he could tilt the Lions balance in his favour.

Earl’s ball-carrying has been immense this season, and I was also really impressed by Ollie Chessum at blindside. He could be formidable with the quality of his lineout, carrying, athleticism, and defence, but he has to bring his best every time.

If Chessum picks up where he left off after his shoulder surgery he’s a big shout for the Lions, and it’s very good to see him and another talented newcomer, Chandler Cunningham-South, pushing each other for the England blindside shirt. I really like big blindsides because of the momentum they bring, like my old Bath, England, and Lions team-mate Ben Clarke.

I believe Maro Itoje will be pencilled in for Australia because of his return to form and Lions pedigree.

Other England players who have put themselves in the shop window are Alex Mitchell at scrum-half,

George Ford, Marcus Smith and Fin Smith at fly-half, Ollie Lawrence at centre, George Furbank at full-back, and wingers Tommy Freeman and Immanuel Feyi-Waboso.

Over the next 12 months their challenge is to be consistently at the top of their game, because the leading Lions contenders in most positions already have a lot of credit in the bank. For example, if Finn Russell has a poor game at fly-half it’s not a big issue, because he has proven Test class. On the other hand, if Fin Smith has a couple of bad games he could struggle, because he doesn’t yet have the international track record.

It’s the same with Jamison Gibson-Park’s rivals for the scrum-half jersey, because he’s been consistently the most influential No.9 in Europe outside Antoine Dupont. However, Gibson-Park might need a bit of a rest this summer after the frustration of the World Cup, then missing out on a second Grand Slam opportunity, before losing a European Cup title for the third year in succession.

Wales scrum-half Tomos Williams might have an outside chance to tour, but after the Welsh wooden spoon, Lions candidates like him, Jac Morgan, and Dafydd Jenkins, can only play their way in with good performances.

Scotland have a couple of very strong Lions candidates in wing Duhan van der Merwe and full-back Blair Kinghorn, who has made a big impact at Toulouse alongside England flanker Jack Willis.

There is a chance that French-based potential Lions tourists such as Willis, Kinghorn, and Lions veterans like Farrell (Racing 92), and Courtney Lawes (Brive), might have to arrive late due to the length of the French season – however, I hope that even if they were the men on the moon, they would be in a position to be selected.

The Lions way is to pick the person before the player. That’s why, on the 1997 Lions tour, we took players from rugby league because of their professionalism, and what they could bring to the party. I’d be surprised if the 2025 Lions do not have the same approach to the guys playing in France, because not selecting them is like cutting off your nose to spite your face.