Sam Prendergast's time will come - but not this year: Andy Goode

On the final weekend of British & Irish Lions auditions it was a tale of two youngsters as one played their way onto the plane and another probably played himself out of a place.

Henry Pollock is the name on everyone’s lips at the moment, which is incredible considering he wasn’t even anywhere near the Lions conversation as recently as two months ago, and I just can’t see how he doesn’t get picked on Thursday now.

He made his England debut seven weeks ago and has scored eight tries in seven games for club and country since then but it’s the less flashy bits and his force of personality that are every bit as impressive.

Unfortunately for him, Sam Prendergast simply didn’t impose his game or personality at all on proceedings at the Aviva Stadium though and he was comprehensively outplayed by his opposite number.

Fin Smith was already a likely Lions tourist for me after nailing down the England number 10 jersey since Round 2 of the Six Nations, together with starring for Northampton week in, week out, but he confirmed his ticket at the weekend.

In contrast, Prendergast, who was left out for Ireland in the final round of the Six Nations, had his well-publicised defensive frailties exposed again and looked every inch the emerging but underdeveloped prospect that he is.

He and Smith are both 22-years-old but the Leinsterman has a lot less senior rugby under his belt, is less hardened and a Lions tour isn’t the place for someone in that position so I think his time will come but it isn’t the summer.

Saints and England’s fly half will be battling with Finn Russell for the number 10 jersey and, depending on how many players are in the squad, I think we’ll see Owen Farrell and/or Marcus Smith on the list as well.

They offer an option at inside centre and full back respectively and the former may have had the worst season of his career and been beset by injuries but nobody can argue with his body of work or leadership credentials, regardless of his direct line to the head coach.

The fly half battle might be the most talked about given the high-profile nature of the position but the most competitive area when it comes to Lions selection is back row.

That just makes it all the more impressive if Pollock does get selected but he does things that no other players in his position can and when you’re having as big an impact as he did on one of the biggest games in club rugby, it can’t be ignored.

Tommy Freeman got player of the match for Saints against Leinster on Saturday and it’s hard to argue with that when he’s scored a hat-trick in a Champions Cup semi-final but I’d have given it to Pollock after a performance that belied his years.

He was the top tackler in the game with 18, he hit the most defensive rucks with 21 and he made more metres than any other forward in either semi-final with 59. He isn’t a bolter any more and it’ll be a major surprise if Andy Farrell doesn’t pick him.

He’s attracted a bit of heat for some of his antics but I haven’t seen him do anything too over the top and I think Farrell will like the fact he’s got something about him and, as well as bringing relentless energy, he won’t take a backward step.

If the worst fears are confirmed and Caelan Doris does miss out on the tour because of his shoulder injury, Pollock is an option at number eight and there aren’t too many specialists in that position who are likely to be selected.

Ben Earl is surely even more likely to go if Doris is ruled out, Jack Conan started all three Tests on the 2021 tour to South Africa and I think he’ll be on the plane again but I don’t see Taulupe Faletau going given his lack of rugby in recent years and Tom Willis may not quite have done enough on the international stage.

I’d be taking his France-based brother, Jack, every day of the week though. The Top 14 final may be on the same day as the second game of the Lions tour, if his Toulouse side get that far, but that is still three weeks before the first Test.

That’s more than enough time to recover, get up to speed with the rest of the squad and put himself in contention for Test selection in the grand scheme of things when you consider what players go through nowadays.

It’s fun for everyone to name their Lions squads in the lead-up to the big announcement at The O2 but I’d be gobsmacked if anyone gets it bang on and one of the reasons for that is we don’t know exactly how many players Farrell is going to take.

Everyone is naming 37-man squads because that has been the size of the contingent in three of the last four tours but 41 went to New Zealand in 2017 and, famously, 44 were selected for the 2005 tour to New Zealand.

It wouldn’t surprise me at all if a slightly larger squad was taken this time around and that probably does pave the way for the head coach’s son to make the cut, and potentially Marcus Smith too as a fly half cum full back.

One thing is for sure, Pollock has to go to Australia and it wouldn’t shock me one bit if we see him starting against the Wallabies in Brisbane on July 19 either.