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Shock omissions forecast in odds on British and Irish Lions XV that punters are backing
England players look set to dominate Warren Gatland’s British and Irish Lions selection, at least according to the betting odds of one bookmaker and their punters.
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Nine England players are favourites in their positions to be selected for the tour, giving a glimpse of what punters project to be Gatland’s starting Test fifteen. Bookmakers Boyle Sports opened the betting and punters are clearly going for tried and tested selections.
Second to England’s nine players, with three starting spots, is Ireland; with Conor Murray, Tadhg Furlong and James Ryan making the Test XV. Wales manage just two selections, Jonathan Davies and Josh Adams, while Scotland got just one selection – Stuart Hogg at fullback.
The team is littered with lots of controversial predicted omissions. For example, there also might not be room for Racing 92’s Finn Russell on tour, with the Scot fourth choice at 10 in a team likely only to bring three out halves.
Punters are also going for the relatively out of form Conor Murray as favourite at scrumhalf, ahead of Gareth Davies and Ben Youngs, while in-form Ireland nine John Cooney is named in fourth position.
Robbie Henshaw would also miss the tour, being just fifth favourite among the centres, a position where Gatland is likely to pick four at the very most.
Form Guinness Six Nations flanker Jamie Ritchie is only the 9th choice back row according to the odds, likely placing him outside a place on the plane, with injured Leinster back row Dan Leavy picked ahead of him in 8th. Ritchie made Lions guru Ian McGeehan’s starting Test fifteen at six, as it happens.
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Courtney Lawes, who can play both second and ‘third row’, would also miss the plane per the betting, as would Scotland’s Jonny Gray, an unlucky absentee from the 2017 tour. They are picked at 6th and 5th respectively.
Again, there’s no place for Scot Rory Sutherland, arguably the Six Nations form prop. The loosehead is the ninth choice prop, and fifth choice loosehead. His partner in crime, tighthead Zander Fagerson, is placed at 10th overall.
At hooker there’s no room on tour for Ken Owens, who placed 4th, despite being selected by Gatland for Wales on over 70 occasions.
At fullback Leigh Halfpenny, the British and Irish Lions stalwart at 15, also looks highly likely to be omitted as a 10/1 long shot in 18th place in the list of wings and fullbacks. There’s (hopefully) a significant amount of rugby to be played between then and now, all is of course still to play for.
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Lions XV favourites: Stuart Hogg (Scotland); Jonny May (England), Jonathan Davies (Wales), Manu Tuilagi (England), Josh Adams (Wales); Owen Farrell (England), Conor Murray (Ireland); Mako Vunipola (England), Jamie George (England), Tadhg Furlong (Ireland), Maro Itoje (England), James Ryan (Ireland), Sam Underhill (England), Tom Curry (England), Billy Vunipola (England).
Ian McGeechan Lions XV: Stuart Hogg, Anthony Watson, Manu Tuilagi, Jonathan Davies, Liam Williams, Owen Farrell, Gareth Davies, Rory Sutherland, Jamie George, Tadhg Furlong, Maro Itoje, James Ryan, Jamie Ritchie, Tom Curry, Billy Vunipola
Comments on RugbyPass
Anna, You are right, we need to have patience whilst the others catch up to England and France. Also it is the PWR that has been the game changer for England. the RFU put money into that initially at the expense of the Red Roses. I was sceptical at first but it has paid off in spades.
1 Go to commentsI think Matt Proctor became a 1 test AB in the same fixture. Cameron is quality and has been great this season, can’t believe’s he only 27. Realistically how would he not be selected for ABs squad this year. Only Dmac is ahead of him as a specialist 10. With Jordan out, it will come down to where and when Beauden Barrett slots back in, and where they want to play Ruben Love. Cameron seems an absolute lock in for the wider squad though. Added benefit of TJ-Cameron-Jordie combination at 9, 10, 11 too.
1 Go to commentsFarcical, to what end would someone want to pay to keep this thing going.
1 Go to commentsHavili, our best 12 by a mile, will be in the squad, if he stays fit. JB is the most overrated AB in the last 50 years.
61 Go to commentsWe had during the week twilight footy, twilight cricket, tw golf plus there was the athletics club. Then the weekend was rugby 15s plus the net ball, really busy club scene back then but so much has changed and rugby has suffered. And it was all about changing lifestyles.
6 Go to commentsIn the 70s and 80s my club ran 5 Senior sides plus a Vets. Now it is 2 sides with an occasional 3rd team. Players have difficulty getting to training now, not sure why and the commitment is not there. It seems to me more a problem of people applying themselves and not expecting to turn up and play whenever they want to.
6 Go to commentsROG’s contract is until 2027. The conversation about a successor to Galthie after RWC 2027 may be starting now. We can infer that Galthie’s reign stops then. He is throwing the Irish Coaching Job angle in because he is Irish. The next Irish coach MUST be Leo Cullen. As well as being the best coach available, coaching the vast majority of Irish Internationals week in week out, he has shown incredible skill at recruiting the best coaching staff for the job in hand. That was a failing in France. Cullen is a shrewd guy and if there is a need for foreign coaches underneath him he won’t hesitate. Rightly so. Ireland does need to start to bring Irish coaches through. Not just at the professional level but we need to train coaches to man new pathways for developing kids from schools/clubs up through the divisions.
8 Go to commentsNo Islam says it must rule where it stands Thus it is to be deleted from this planet Earth
18 Go to commentsThis team probably does not beat the ABs sadly Not sure if BPA will be available given his signing for Force but has to enter consideration. Very strong possibility of getting schooled by the AB props. Advantage AB. Rodda/Skelton would be a tasty locking combination - would love to see how they get on. Advantage Wallabies. Backrow a risk of getting out hustled and outmuscled by ABs. Will be interesting to see if the Blues feast on the Reds this weekend the way they did the Brumbies we are in big trouble at the breakdown. Great energy, running and defence but goalkicking/general kicking/passing quality in the halves bothers me enormously. SA may have won the World Cup for a lot of the tournament without a recognised goalkicker but Pollard in the final made a difference IMO. Injuries and retirements leave AB stocks a bit lighter but still stronger. 12 and 13 ABs shade it (Barret > Paisami, Ione = Ikitau, arguably) Interesting clash of styles on the wings - Corey Toole running around Caleb Clark and Caleb running over the top of Toole. Reece vs Koro probably the reverse. Pretty even IMO. 15s Kelleway = Love See advantage to ABs man for man, but we are not obviously getting slaughtered anywhere which makes a nice change. Think talent wise we are pretty even and if our cohesion and teamwork is better than the ABs then its just about doable.
11 Go to commentsCompletely agree. More friday night games would be a hit. RFU to make sure every club has a floodlit pitch. Club opens again Saturday to welcome touch / tag. Minis and youths on Sunday
6 Go to comments1.97m and 105Kg? Proportionately, probably skinnier than me at 1.82 and 82kilos. He won’t survive against the big guys at that weight.
55 Go to commentsThe value he brought to the crusaders as an assistant was equal to what he got out of being there. He reflected not only on the team culture but also the credit he attributed to the rugby community. Such experience shouldn’t be overlooked.
8 Go to commentsGood luck Aussie
11 Go to commentssmith at 9 / mounga 10 / laumape 12 / fainganuku 14
61 Go to commentsBar the injuries, it’s pretty much their top team …
2 Go to commentsDon’t disagree with much of this but it appears you forgot Rodda and Beale, who started at the Force on the weekend.
11 Go to commentsExcept for the injured Zach Gallagher this would be Saders best forward pack for the season. Blackadder needs to stay at 7, for all of Christies tackling he is not dominant and offers very little else. McNicholfullback is maybe a good option, Fihaki not really upto it, there was a reason Burke played there last year. Maybe Havilli to 2nd five McLeod to wing. Need a strong winger on 1 side to compliment Reece
1 Go to commentsTo me TJ is clearly the best 9 in the competition right now but he's also a proven player off the bench, there's few playmaking players who can come off the bench as calm and settled as he is, Beauden can, TJ can and I doubt any of the scrumhalves in contention can, if they want to experiment with new 9s I want him on the bench ready to step in if they crumble under the pressure. The Boks put their best front row on the bench, I'd like to see us take a similar approach, the Hurricanes have been doing similar things with players like Kirifi.
61 Go to commentsROG has better chance to win a WC if he starts training and make himself eligible as a player. He won’t make the Ireland squad but I reckon he may get close with Namibia (needs to improve his Afrikaans) or Portugal. Both sides had 1000:1 odds to win the RWC in 2023 which is an improvement on ROG’s odds of winning a RWC as a coach. Unlike Top 14 teams, national teams can’t go shopping and buy the best players - you work with the available talent pool and turn them into world beaters.
8 Go to commentsthat backline nope that backline is terrible why would you have sevu Reece when he’s not even top 5 wingers in the comp why have Blackadder when there’s better players no Scott barret isn’t an automatic the guy is more of a liability than anything why have him there when you have samipeni who’s far far better
61 Go to comments