Lions Watch: Jac Morgan stands alone

On the last British and Irish Lions tour to Australia in 2013 Wales had a near-record 16 players included in a squad captained by Sam Warburton and coached by Warren Gatland. Four of the celebrated 16 that toured in 2013 would go on to become Test centurions.

Only the 1977 tour, that came at a time when Wales were in the midst of their golden decade, surpassed the 2013 tour in terms of Welsh representatives with 17 heading to New Zealand.

Next year. however, it would be unsurprising if Wales struggled to get as many as five selected, the current record low for any tour (to New Zealand in 1993).

Back then, Wales had suffered a talent drain to the North, to Rugby League. But now the problems are very different, with Wales’ shallow depth of quality cruelly exposed over the course of their first winless year since 1937.

One positive, though, has been the return to fitness of their Rugby World Cup 2023 leader, Jac Morgan, and the flanker makes our final ‘five contenders’ list from the Autumn Nations Series.

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Jac Morgan (Wales)

Dewi Lake has something about him, if only he could throw consistently well. But the one class player Wales do possess, who consistently performs and also shares Lake’s leadership qualities, is flanker Jac Morgan. At times, it felt like Morgan was single-handedly carrying the fight to the Springboks on Saturday as Wales slipped to their 12th straight defeat of the year. Morgan made an incredible 28 tackles, missing only two, for a success rate of 93% compared to his team’s overall average of 82%. And the 24-year-old was the only player in red whose carry count was in double figures, the Ospreys player making 39 metres from the 11 times he had the ball in his hands, which was nearly a fifth of his team’s total.

Ollie Sleightholme (England)

Marcus Smith was again at his impudent best and played with a real swagger in the 59-14 annihilation of Japan, while Ollie Lawrence was excellent in midfield. But, for us, Ollie Sleightholme gets the nod this week after his Player of the Match performance. The Saints try-scoring sensation has that uncanny knack of producing a try out of nowhere, as he showed with his neat little grubber kick and regather. Spots opportunities that others don’t see and a tally of four tries in five caps is a sensational start to Test rugby.

Blair Kinghorn (Scotland)

Slotted back into his preferred position at full-back having played the South Africa game on the wing and was full of running in a Player of the Match display. The Toulouse player was the only player on the pitch to carry for over 100 metres (133), broke Wallaby tackles at will, and got a couple of telling offloads away with his ability to free his arms in contact. Being able to cover fly-half and kick for goals as well, Kinghorn would be very unlucky to miss out on a Lions place.

Caelan Doris (Ireland)

Ireland’s consistently excellent captain may have missed out on the World Rugby Men’s 15s Player of the Year award but he delivered on the pitch, as he always does, against Fiji. Doris opened the scoring in the fifth minute with his seventh international try, came up with an assist for Josh van der Flier’s score and his carries always packed a punch against physical opposition. Made all 15 of his tackles and carried 16 times for 59 metres gained. A serious contender for the Lions captaincy, especially given his relationship with Andy Farrell.

Josh Bayliss (Scotland)

This week we’re offering up versatile forward Josh Bayliss as our potential bolter. The flanker/No.8, who sometimes fills in for  his club side Bath on the wing – he is that quick – has really pushed forward his Scotland claims over the Autumn with his energetic and athletic displays. His finish against Australia was world-class and secured the win for Scotland. On the hard grounds of Australia, Bayliss could do some serious damage and he’s also a very good lineout option.