Lions squad 2013

[jgriffin]

So ...


No Robshaw! No Wilko! No third fly-half! What do we think about all that folks?

Updated at 11.16am BST


11.12am BST

And the captian is ...


Warburton


11.12am BST

Back-row


Croft, Faletau, Heaslip, Lydiate, O'Brien, Tipuric, Warburton

Updated at 11.12am BST


11.11am BST

Second row


Evans, Gray, Wyn Jones, O'Connell, Parling

Updated at 11.12am BST


11.11am BST

Hookers


Hartley, Hibbard, Youngs


11.10am BST

Props


Cole, Healy, Jenkins, Jones, Stevens, Vunipola

Updated at 11.13am BST


11.10am BST

Scum-halves


Murray, Phillips, Youngs

Updated at 11.14am BST


11.09am BST

Fly-halves


Farrell, Sexton, NO WILKO!

Updated at 11.14am BST


11.09am BST

Centre


Davies, BOD, Roberts, Tuilagi


11.09am BST

Wings


Bowe, Cuthbert, Maitland, North


11.08am BST

This is it ... I promise ...


... Full-backs: Leigh Halfpenny, Hogg, Kearney

[BJ.]

Fullbacks: Leigh Halfpenny (Wales, Cardiff Blues), Stuart Hogg (Scotland, Glasgow Warriors), Rob Kearney (Ireland, Leinster)

Wings: Tommy Bowe (Ireland, Ulster), Alex Cuthbert (Wales, Cardiff Blues), Sean Maitland (Scotland, Glasgow Warriors), George North (Wales, Scarlets)

Centres: Jonathan Davies (Wales, Scarlets), Brian O'Driscoll (Ireland, Leinster), Jamie Roberts (Wales, Cardiff Blues), Manusamoa Tuilagi (England, Leicester Tigers)

Outside halves: Owen Farrell (England, Saracens), Jonathan Sexton (Ireland, Leinster)

Scrum halves: Conor Murray (Ireland, Munster), Mike Phillips (Wales, Bayonne), Ben Youngs (England, Leicester Tigers)

Props: Dan Cole (England, Leicester Tigers), Cian Healy (Ireland, Leinster), Gethin Jenkins (Wales, Toulon), Adam Jones (Wales, Ospreys), Matt Stevens (England, Saracens), Mako Vunipola (England, Saracens)

Hookers: Dylan Hartley (England, Northampton Saints), Richard Hibbard (Wales, Ospreys), Tom Youngs (England, Leicester Tigers)

Second rows: Ian Evans (Wales, Ospreys), Richie Gray (Scotland, Sale Sharks), Alun Wyn Jones (Wales, Ospreys), Paul O'Connell (Ireland, Munster), Geoff Parling (England, Leicester Tigers)

Back rows: Tom Croft (England, Leicester Tigers), Toby Faletau (Wales, Newport Gwent Dragons), Jamie Heaslip (Ireland, Leinster), Dan Lydiate (Wales, Newport Gwent Dragons), Sean O'Brien (Ireland, Leinster), Justin Tipuric (Wales, Ospreys), Sam Warburton (Wales, Cardiff Blues)

[jgriffin]

I'll delete my 'as it happened' post - you correct your spelling....

[Crumblies]

A great day to be a Tiger. The sensational Six. Very well done especially Geoff Parling!

Very Proud. Go get em boys!

[jgriffin]

Oh dear. Sexton (recovering from injury) and Farrell (not even surgery will cure). Is Halfpenny the replacement 10? There's no-one else.
We now know the answer to the nepotism question is 'yes'. Farrell gets shown how to play and is exposed.......yet.....
Warburton captain?????
We live in marginally less interesting times IMHO.

[kpj tiger]

Matt Stevens.... MATT FLAMING STEVENS!!!!!!!
On another note well done Dan, Tom Y, Geoff, Tom C, Ben and Manu!!!!!!!!! (Do we provide the most players from 1 club?)

[TomWeston]

Matt Stevens.... MATT FLAMING STEVENS!!!!!!!
On another note well done Dan, Tom Y, Geoff, Tom C, Ben and Manu!!!!!!!!! (Do we provide the most players for 1 club?)

Quite, on both counts!

Stevens can't even make the England team!

[Skin_and_Muscle]

An interesting squad. Having the likes of Hogg, Cole, and Tipuric in there is counterbalanced by the inclusion of Heaslip and Stevens the penalty machine (not to mention the most brazen nepotism evidenced in the inclusion of Farrell).

I feel sorry for the backs that will make up the midweek playing squad - they won't have any chance of forcing their way into the test team after Farrell is done making them look ordinary.

Still, good luck to the Lions and Tigers!

[Caerlyr Osprey]

Matt Stevens - I hadn't seen that! I was still in shock at Hartley and Farrell going.

Good luck to the Ospreys & Tigers players selected.

[FrontRowUnionMember]

Pleased for the Tigers boys. What a phenomenal rise for Tom Youngs. I bet the old man is a happy boy, both his lads England Internationals, and now Lions tourists. That's some gene pool.
Surprised at 5 locks and only two tens, unless there is another to be added dependant on French league commitments... Hook or Wilko??
Also surprised at Stevens, but not Vunipola.

[Grimlish]

I make it six each from Leicester and Leinster!

[paul wigston]

Excellent news of Tigers included, especially as they have come through the academy,plus Parling.Welldone!!Why no Flood?As for Matt Stevens, words fail me.

[CitizenSmiff]

Made up for our lads, especially Tom Youngs who must have thought his career was basically over before Heyneke Meyer came along. No idea why Maitland is on the plane as the makeweight Scot instead of Visser, or why Peter O'Mahony wasn't the third or forth name on the sheet but not a bad team overall if a little heavy on easily replaceable Welshmen.

[Suz]

Really pleased for our 6 tiger lions

Matt Stevens?? Random choice thats for sure and thats the best spin I can put on it

Am worried about fly half, would have preferred Wilko over Farrell, I still think its risky only have the two.

[baz1664]

Squad is pretty much as expected with the massive Wales contingent.

Well done the Tigers six, well deserved of there places!!

Suprised with the inclusions of Stevens(theres better props than him) Vunipola(little international experiance and very raw)Farrell(clearly in the squad due to his old man being in the set up)Heaslip(Clearly not been picked on current form after his horrendous six nations) O'Connell(injured all season, should have been cited last week and shouldnt even be on the plane)

Would have given Wilko a spot, he is currently in the form of his life and has the experiance to win the big games. Robshaw very unlucky too.

That squad tho should turn the Aussies over.