It’s that time of year again. The British Lions are gearing up for another tour, and South Africa is their destination. In a few short days time, we’ll know every detail about who’s in the squad, who’s missed out, and what the shape of the team might look like. There will probably be both surprise inclusions and surprise omissions – because there always are – but this time around, there’s also some debate about who the team’s captain is likely to be. There are three or four particularly strong contenders, any of whom could lead the side.
Picking a captain for the Lions’ side is never an easy task, whether it’s Warren Gatland or anybody else making the call. There are egos to consider, as well as relationships between the players. A player who might be a great leader for their own national side might not make a great leader for the Lions if he alienates players from the other home nations. It’s all a little bit like playing the Rugby Star casino game, where you need to get your lineup absolutely spot-on if you’re going to win anything. If anything, Gatland’s task is harder than the one faced by a player at a casino website like the top sister site casinos at sistersite.co.uk such as Megaways Casino and Monopoly Casino. If Gatland makes the wrong call, he’ll get the blame for it and perhaps rightly so.
We won’t pretend to know any of the players as well as Gatland does, so perhaps he’ll surprise us with his final choice, but we think these are the key contenders for the role.
Farrell is an experienced leader who knows what success looks and feels like. He’s played in a World Cup final. He’s won the Six Nations, too. That goes in his favour, but perhaps recent history doesn’t. As recently as two months ago, his position with the England side was under threat after a series of under-par performances. He’s improved since then, but he’s still a shadow of the player he can be when he’s at his best. The issue with Farrell is that his best days shouldn’t be behind him. He’s still only 29. Whether it’s spending too long with Saracens or something that’s going on away from the field, Farrell appears to have lost his magic touch. This would be a good time to get it back, and perhaps an arm around the shoulder in the shape of Gatland giving him the captaincy would be just the tonic. Gatland isn’t really an “arm around the shoulder” guy, though, and Farrell’s undoubted leadership qualities don’t even guarantee him a starting place. He would have been seen as nailed-on for the armband until recently. Now he might be watching from the bench.
Alun Wyn Jones
The big Welshman is probably the favourite for the role – and not just because of his pre-existing relationship with Gatland. They’ve known each other since Gatland’s association with Wales in 2007, and Gatland’s never shown any sign of going off the player since then. He was still a mainstay of the side right up until the end of Gatland’s tenure with Wales in 2019. Jones has been the captain of Wales since 2018 and has also captained the Lions before, albeit only once and almost ten years ago. What goes in his favour, though, is that he appears to be enjoying a glorious autumn to his career. At 35 years old, he’s won the Six Nations twice in three years and is frequently mentioned as one of the most important (if not the most technically gifted) Welsh players of all time. The battle against South Africa will likely be led from the front, and Jones is the kind of warrior who can lead a fight of that style. Given his age, this is likely to be his last chance.
Maro Itoje
Is it too early to give the armband to Itoje? Possibly, but it’s going to happen one day, and he can only gain experience in the role if he’s given the opportunity. We all remember the “Vauxhall to BMW” comments Eddie Jones made about him a few years ago. Itoje didn’t even understand what a Vauxhall was back then, but he’s made the transition anyway. Still in his mid-twenties, he’s won everything that it’s possible to win in the game of rugby apart from the World Cup. He’ll want to do that before he calls it a day – and still has plenty of time to do it – but the captaincy of the Lions would be an important step in his development. He’ll definitely be a starter for the team, but will he also be the leader? We can think of several worse choices. Giving the armband to Itoje would be a sign of faith in the future. The only thing that might count against him is his habit of giving away penalties, but dare we say that a little bit of edge against a team like the Springboks might actually be a good thing?
Stuart Hogg
Every pundit in the sport thinks that Gatland is going to name a forward as captain. If they’re right, Scotland‘s Stuart Hogg is automatically out of the running. If they’re wrong, his name is very much in the frame, and deservedly so. He’s a surefire pick for the starting fifteen and is arguably the most consistent performer among them. Hogg is a student of the game. He knows his role as a full back and is never caught out of position, but he watches play intently even when the ball is far from him. Very few players read the game of rugby better than Stuart Hogg does. That kind of vision and insight is a desirable quality for a captain. The better you can read a situation, the better the instructions you’re able to give to your teammates. There’s no point telling anyone that a fullback can’t be a captain when Hogg’s Scotland side crushed England in the Six Nations. Naming Hogg would be a break from tradition – but then traditions are there to be broken.
If the eventual captain turns out to be someone we haven’t named here, we’ll look like fools. We’re prepared to take that chance. We’d be astonished if it wasn’t someone listed above. We suspect it will be Alun Wyn Jones, but we might be happier if it were Maro Itoje.
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