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Jason Robinson backs 'naturally gifted' rookie for 2025 Lions tour
By Liam Heagney
The widely acclaimed Jason Robinson has named the rookie player Andy Farrell must include on next year’s British and Irish Lions tour. The famed home nations combination side are due to visit Australia next June, 24 years after Robinson set the game of union alight by finishing his first season after crossing over from rugby league as a Lions tour star.
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It was November 2000 when Robinson debuted for Sale Sharks following a 35-game campaign with league giants Wigan Warriors and by the time the Lions’ Australian tour ended the following July, he had played a total of 60 league/union rugby matches without an off-season – his last seven appearances coming in a Lions jersey.
Interviewed by Rugby World in its one year to go magazine on the 2025 tour, Robinson was asked if he saw any potential bolters earning selection for next year’s trip. In reply, he nominated Immanuel Feyi-Waboso, the 21-year-old Exeter Chiefs winger who has earned six Test caps so far in 2024 with Steve Borthwick’s England, scoring four tries.
“I’m not sure if he is a bolter anymore but it’s got to be Immanuel Feyi-Waboso. I see someone who is quite raw and not fully tapped into as a prospect. Given more of an opportunity and utilised in the game more, he can do things.
“Give him the ball with nothing on and he can earn you five metres over the gainline. He is naturally gifted and keen to learn and develop. He will be special.”
? ONE YEAR TO GO UNTIL THE LIONS ?
Issue 301 is dedicated to all things @lionsofficial ahead of next year's tour to Australia.
Get your copy now: https://t.co/fN0PQyV7HW pic.twitter.com/VCqXtEp2wT
— Rugby World (@Rugbyworldmag) July 23, 2024
Robinson also named Brian O’Driscoll as the one player from the 2001 tour to Australia who should be on the plane down under in 2025 if he was still in his prime and playing. “It has to be Brian O’Driscoll,” he enthused. “There are certain players who stand the test of time and he is one of them. His level was incredible and his game had everything. His skill-set was complete in attack and defence.”
Robinson massively got along with O’Driscoll on the 2001 tour, which ended in a two-one Test series win for the Wallabies. “I spent a lot of time with Brian on that tour. We were the two new kids – I had come from league and he was only 21.
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“It worked out, us together, as it was the tour that set our international careers on fire. Another is Rob Henderson, the centre. We were like chalk and cheese. I was trying to be the ultimate professional; I didn’t go out, didn’t drink. Rob, on the other hand, was old school. He was all fags, room service and late nights but it worked for him.”
'I go into schools a lot and those kids need to be able to look up and identify with it. Rugby union has sort of a middle class (appeal)'
– @LandRoverRugby ambassador @Jason15Robinson on @EnglandRugby, @rugbyworldcup and finding the next generationhttps://t.co/b8pYYQF1er— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) October 12, 2019
if the tour was tomorrow I'd say Keenan, Hansen, & van der Merwe should be the starting back three, with Osbourne, Graham, & Lowe making up the squad places. There's also a strong argument for including Freeman or possibly Steyn as a utility option, either as well as the above back three specialists or instead of Lowe. Feyi-Waboso definitely would be one of the next cabs off the rank (along with Furbank and Steward) in the event of injuries, but he's significantly younger than everyone else I've mentioned so there's a good chance that in the coming months he'll move a few places up the pecking order.