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Lions selection ‘has to be done on merit not dynamics’
By Martyn Thomas reporting from London
Andy Farrell has insisted he will pick his British and Irish Lions squad solely on merit as he hinted he would have no qualms about leaving out players from one of the four nations altogether.
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Farrell confirmed the make-up of his coaching staff on Wednesday, leaning heavily on his own Ireland set-up with the appointments of Simon Easterby, John Fogarty and Andrew Goodman as assistants alongside Scotland’s John Dalziel and England’s Richard Wigglesworth.
Given Ireland’s head of athletic performance Aled Walters and general manager of performance David Nucifora – who only left the IRFU for Scotland last August – were his first appointments in January, it means the backroom team has a largely Irish feel.
By contrast, there are no representatives from Wales in the current group. That is perhaps not surprising given the turmoil generated by their 17-Test losing run, though, and Farrell stood by his selections.
Asked if it would have been ideal to include someone from each union, Farrell said: “I’ve no doubt that’s idealistic for everyone, but surely this has to be done on merit for who fits.
“Is Simon Welsh? He’s a Yorkshireman, he has lived in Wales all his life and coaches a little bit in Ireland.
“But look, you’ll see in the weeks to come, we’re nearly there as far as the high-performance team, the team behind the team, the blend is thorough throughout and that isn’t just to do that neither.
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“That is just on merit because they’re the right people for the job in hand.”
And it seems the head coach feels under no obligation to include a player from each of the four nations just to placate supporters from that country.
“I’ve never been like that,” Farrell added. “Surely everyone in here is an individual.
“Imagine not going on a Lions tour because someone thinks that somebody else who’s not as good deserves a place because of the dynamics of the [tour]. Surely that’s not fair.”
Farrell will announce his squad and captain for the tour of Australia in front of around 2,000 fans at London’s O2 Arena on May 8.
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On Wednesday, Farrell suggested “four or five, five or six” players remained in contention to assume the Lions captaincy.
The squad will play its first match, against Argentina in Dublin on June 20 before embarking on a nine-match tour of Australia that includes three Tests against the Wallabies.
By current definitions Easterby is Welsh having lived in Wales for more than a week