Nick Cain wonders why the Lions have not turned to the obvious choice as they tackle front row crisis

The departure lounges of airports as distant from each other as Durban and Buenos Aires have been busy over the last few hours transporting new props to shore up the cracked beams of the 2013 Lions front row.
The first replacements of the strongman breed famous for having no necks, steel girder backs and tree trunk legs – not to mention the occasional belly – about to jet into Brisbane are Alex
Corbisiero, fresh from England‘s tour of Argentina, and Ryan Grant, who was about to take up cudgels for the Scots against the Springboks.
The two looseheads have responded to the Lions call after injuries to Cian Healy and Gethin Jenkins left the tourists seriously depleted in an area which they believed was rock solid three days ago.
However, on the eve of the match against the Queensland Reds, Healy’s tour was cut short cruelly when it was announced that the ligament damage to the ankle he twisted just before half-time against the Western Force had ruled him out of any further action. To compound the loss of the powerful Irishman, news then emerged that Jenkins was also being sent home due to a recurrence of the calf injury which had so far prevented him from taking the field.
With the two leading contenders removed from the loosehead landscape, the Lions head coach, Warren Gatland, has some urgent repairs to make.
On the evidence of what we have seen so far on tour, Mako Vunipola has risen to the occasion to such an extent that
Gatland will find it difficult to look further than the England rookie.
That said, opportunity also knocks for Corbisiero and Grant, and although neither of them made the initial selection cut, they are both more experienced than Vunipola and will fancy their chances.
Someone who did not fancy his chances is Andrew Sheridan, and his absence from the prop replacements roster is a snub to the 2013 Heineken Cup winner which is as blatant as it is incomprehensible.
If you asked any Australian tighthead, including Ben Alexander, which monster he would least like to see coming over the hill, then it would be Sheridan. He has proven his world-class credentials as a scrummager consistently, including this season when his workrate, mobility and carrying made him the pick of the Toulon heavyweights, consigning Jenkins to bench duties.
However, it clearly was not enough to win Sheridan the backing of the Lions coaches and scrum coach, Graham Rowntree, in particular.
Rowntree has at least remained consistent in resisting the player who succeeded him as England loosehead, having shut the door on the 2009 Test Lion returning this season to represent England or the 2013 tourists, while keeping it open for Matt Stevens, who, unlike Sheridan, had retired from international rugby.
Furthermore, Sheridan made it clear in an interview in The Rugby Paper right at the start of this season that he was keen to play for the Lions again. Although he has written off his chances since then, that simply reflects the lack of interest from Gatland and Rowntree.

If a cogent reason for Sheridan’s exclusion – outside his late availability due to the French club final – has been given by the Lions management I have not heard it, and it seems a rare and glaring flaw in an otherwise impressively selected side.
That flaw is exacerbated by the relative inexperience of Vunipola (nine England caps), Corbisiero (18 England caps), and Grant (ten Scotland caps), in a position in which experience is generally accepted as being more valuable than anywhere else on the pitch.
For the record, Sheridan has 40 England caps and two Lions caps – would have had at least 20 more for England but for injuries – and is fighting fit having played a full Top 14 season in France for European champions Toulon.
The idea of attacking the Wallaby scrum with a front row of Sheridan, Richard Hibbard and Adam Jones is tantalising, with Vunipola as an impact man off the bench for the 33-year-old giant. It will not happen. Inexplicably, it seems to be a case of anyone but Sheridan.
However, this should not detract from the extraordinary advance made over the course of this season by Vunipola, culminating in such excellent form in the early tour matches that he was putting the heat on Healy and Jenkins.
Having already made a debut start for the Lions against the Barbarians and been very impressive in his 44 minutes against the Force, including scoring his first try in the colours, Vunipola is being kept busy.
When he discovered on Friday that he was on duty for a third time in succession, starting against the Reds after Jenkins’ withdrawal, it put him in pole position to press his case.
It reflects a season of startling progress for the 20st prop of Tongan blood who was born in New Zealand, learned his rugby in Wales and at Millfield, and plays for Saracens and England.
He started it as reserve Saracens loosehead behind Rhys Gill, but made such an impression that he secured the No.1 starting jersey from his rival before going on to make his England debut against Fiji, and then, after making further waves during the Six Nations, winning selection for the Lions.
Vunipola says he has to pinch himself to make sure it is real.
“The Lions tour was not in my wildest dreams. At the start of this year I just tried to knuckle down and get myself into that starting XV for Sarries. I had Rhys Gill in front of me, a Welsh international, so I saw that as my main task, to push him all the way.”
Now he is doing the same to his Lions rivals, thanks to his dynamic contribution in the loose, where his footwork and balance at close-quarters allied to remarkably soft hands, make him a menace.
This makes him a natural fit for Gatland’s game-plan and it has resulted in Vunipola seeing plenty of ball in his first few outings in Lions red – something he relishes.
“There’s been a lot of emphasis on the front five to get around the corner and for us front-row boys to just keep working hard, double rucking here and there, and I’ve just been lucky enough to be on the end of ball carrying opportunities.
“Gats has already told me to get the ball in my hands as much as I can and for me it’s just happy days to carry, but it’s also a lot of hard work to get round the corner.”

Vunipola admits that meeting these targets means he has been strict with his diet, limiting starchy polynesian staples such as taro: “I have to tailor what I eat. Being a big guy it doesn’t help eating too much starchy stuff and carbs.
“But I’ve been in the UK a long time, and taro is quite hard to come by, so it’s only eaten on special occasions. As you get older you get a lot more experience, and I know I need to limit the amount of taro I eat.”
The upshot is that Vunipola looks fitter than a butcher’s dog – albeit one of bull mastiff proportions.
“Coming on this tour I knew I had to raise my fitness levels. The fitness coaches at Saracens helped and now after joining up with the Lions my fitness levels are probably at their highest — but there is more to come.”
He says this is because the bar is raised to the highest notch in every respect:
“You can tell this is the highest level for every player. You can tell just in training it’s at a higher level, with higher intensity and skill.”
The only area where the Lions have not been able to train to full capacity is the scrum, according to Vunipola.
“With a few injuries here and there we haven’t had the chance to go bone on bone (live scrummaging), but what we have done is train at a pace and intensity that we feel is match level. And for us it doesn’t really matter who the opponents are. We focus on ourselves and putting the performance out there.”
However, Vunipola is keen to dispel any notion that he is a ball-carrier first and scrummager second.
“As a prop you have to enjoy scrummaging at the highest level. If you don’t enjoy it you’re in the wrong position. For me getting a pushover try is the best
scenario. And if I can get a try like I did against the Force then happy days. But first and foremost my bread and butter is the scrum.”
Ask him if he is confident about being able to play both sides in future and his confidence comes through: “I’ve tried, yeah. For the moment I’m still learning at loosehead but in the future I could probably play tighthead.”
Vunipola’s enthusiasm for the Lions is transparent. “I’m enjoying everything really. Mixing with the boys you play against week-in, week-out, and at international level, and learning off them. And as a fan, just being able to train with my heroes, like Paul O’Connell and Adam Jones. But the honour of wearing the Lions badge – that’s the main thing.”
He says that with so many Welshmen in the squad he has also been helped by the strong accent he acquired after spending much of his childhood in Pontypool, after his father, Fe’ao, a Tongan international hooker, signed for the club.
“Having a slight Welsh accent helps. Some of the English boys struggle to understand them sometimes, so it helps to translate a bit. But all of the boys have gelled well and come together as a unit.”
The link with one fellow Lion, Wales No.8 Toby Faletau, is even stronger.
“We tell people we are cousins – distant cousins, really. My mum and his mum are cousins. But we are pretty much brothers really. Graham Rowntree has been getting into us a bit for hanging round together.
“When I moved over to Wales we lived together for a bit, and he came over to England to do college so he lived with us, so we have grown up together since I moved over to the UK. He’s going well and it helps me having him out on the pitch giving me support, and I try and give him support if I can.”
The result is that Vunipola comes across as a very grounded and determined 22-year-old.
“I promised myself to come out here and train as hard as possible and take my opportunities when they come with both hands.
“With the world-class players we have there is a lot of competition. I’m trying to not look too far ahead, keep my head down and work hard.
“As everyone knows here, you don’t get many opportunities to put forward your case for the Test team. So when you do you have to take them as hard as you can.”
Ask him if his ambition extends to being a Test Lion, and Vunipola’s answer is immediate. “Definitely. Everyone on this tour wants to be a Test Lion and I’m no different. I want to put my hand up for the Test team.”
It’s up there, Mako, and it’s been noticed.