Jeremy Guscott looks at the contenders for the Lions captaincy and selects his man

For the first in a long time whoever Warren Gatland selects as his Lions captain will not be a majority pick by most supporters. In my three tours, the captains were Finlay Calder, Gavin Hastings and Martin Johnson.
In 1989 Finlay Calder got the job and there didn’t seem to be much choice other than maybe Donal Lenihan. Andy Robinson had been seen by many as the Test openside, but he had a pre-tour injury and was lucky to get on the plane.
Calder went on to win over the players from Wales, Ireland and England by how he performed. He also took on-board that the way to beat Australia was more akin to the English forward style of play rather than a Scottish one. Finlay embraced that and sought English council through Brian Moore and Dean Richards. Finlay was a good captain, he led on and off the field – and everyone followed.
In 1993 the selection was between Will Carling and Gavin Hastings. With England’s Geoff Cooke as manager it was always going to be hard for him to select Carling as captain because, with the number of English players selected, it could have been seen as an England tour.
So it was Gavin who got the job. In hindsight, it was the right choice. Gavin was unchallenged in the full-back position and his credibility in New Zealand was high.
I was happy because it meant both centre spots were up for grabs and I saw that Gavin was a very good player. I’m not sure what effect Gav being a back had on the forwards. In those days they were a law unto themselves, getting the ball from those fellas was like taking a bone from a dog. But in that era of rugby Gavin was big for a three-quarter and that helped convince the forwards they were being led by the right man.
It turned out to be quite a hard tour for Will. Having had the expectation of being captain and then being told it wasn’t going to be him must have been hard to come to terms with. You’re the double Grand Slam-winning captain in 1991 and 1992 but not good enough in the eyes of the selectors to captain the Lions. That doesn’t quite make sense.
In fairness to Will, by the end of the tour he understood what the Lions were about and in the game against Waikato, even though the Lions went down 38-10, he put his heart and soul into the game which was a lost cause and got massive respect from everyone.
In 1997 Martin Johnson was captain. The choice of leader looked between Ieuan Evans, Keith Wood and maybe Rob Wainwright. But Johnson was an inspired selection by Ian McGeechan. He was respected by every player he had ever played against. For the first couple of weeks he was more like a Ryder Cup captain, watching training and attending meetings because he was carrying an injury. He was that important to the Lions he was allowed a couple of weeks to get fit in time for the Tests.
All those captains had established reputations, they were experienced in leading.

Now, if you look at Gatland’s choices  who has the best credentials: Sam Warburton, Brian O’Driscoll, Chris Robshaw, Alun-Wyn Jones, Paul O’Connell, or maybe Rory Best?
It’s amazingly hard to select a candidate because there are no stand out choices like Johnson in 1997 and 2001 or O’Driscoll 2005 and O’Connell 2009.
O’Connell has come from left field. There was a question mark whether he would play again this season as his back injury was taking so long to get right. He played a blinder against Quins and now he’s back, even though it’s only one game. Reality is, outside of Munster none of us have gone deaf hearing his name being shouted telling us how well he has been playing in the last few years. There is little doubt, though, if he can stay injury free in the next couple of weeks and produce performances like he did at Quins, you’d take him because in that form he’s pretty unstoppable.
Sam Warburton must wish it was 12 months ago, then he would have been pretty much everyone’s choice.
It does look as though he came back too early from his injury and tried too hard. Not being captain for Wales after the first game in the Six Nations enabled him to get on with his own job and he did so brilliantly.
But the fact that when he returned Howley did not give him back the captaincy has to go against him in Lions captaincy selection. All we know is what we saw and Warburton appeared to play better without the captaincy, that does not mean he doesn’t want it but it definitely means there’s a big question mark whether he’s the right man to lead the Lions.
And after Justin Tipuric’s performances, Warburton cannot be guaranteed a starting position.

Chris Robshaw has earned an amazing amount of respect in his brief time as an international player and captain with his honesty, commitment, work ethic and professionalism. For me he plays more like a blindside than openside but that doesn’t matter – it’s what Gatland sees him as and what he can contribute against Australia. It would be a stunning choice given that Robshaw has played only 17 internationals and there’s no real story to give other than he’s a good player who plays consistently well.
After the opening weekend of the Six Nations, when Ireland had beaten Wales at the Millennium Stadium it appeared to signal Brian O’Driscoll was back on fire. His pass into the future for Zebo’s try plus his own try and personal contribution signalled he had returned from injury as good as new. The rest of the Championship didn’t go so well for him and even worse for Ireland.
Alun Wyn Jones and Rory Best must be considered outside bets. Both are vastly experienced and leaders in their own teams and both will go on tour.
I think Jones has been helped by the break he had with injury, it seems to have revitalised him. Best should see off other hookers to claim a Test spot and, being almost guaranteed his position, puts him in the frame for captaincy.
Questions, questions and more questions about who will be Lions captain will come my way for the next couple of weeks. I want to pick O’Driscoll but backs are rarely the best captains for Lions tours. However, he has the global rugby respect that could override that belief and he would have enough lieutenants in the forwards to cover that area.