My predicted Lions XV to face Australia after the Six Nations

It’s time to update our British & Irish Lions team to play the first Test on tour in Australia in July – now the Six Nations is at an end with France as champions, and England in second place in their best finish since they won it in 2020.

Ireland have lost their champions’ status of the past two years, and still no team has taken the men’s Six Nations title three years in a row, illustrating how difficult it is to keep winning in such a fiendishly quickfire competition, and also how injuries to key players Tadhg Furlong and James Lowe hurt the Irish at crucial times.

Scotland in fourth place must wait yet another year for a first Six Nations title, although their backs have shown the snazziest attack with the ball in hand, while Wales have too many problems to list, and their 68-14 home defeat by England was a barely believable way to sign off. Not even the redoubtable captain Jac Morgan could make much of an impression amid the mostly one-way traffic in Cardiff.

Having chosen our first possible Lions team last summer, and revised it early in this Six Nations, it’s fascinating to reflect on who has stayed steadily in our selection, and who has shot forward or slipped back.

Head coach Andy Farrell surely won’t be swayed by temporary blips, and he will have all the data and first-hand opinion he needs. England’s boss Steve Borthwick, for example, met Farrell three weeks ago, they spoke on the phone 10 days ago, and another chat is anticipated this week.

Farrell will name the Lions squad in London on 8 May, so players have the next seven weeks including big matches in the last 16, quarter-finals and semi-finals of the European club competitions to either re-find some form or keep impressing or, in the case of someone like Scotland centre Sione Tuipulotu, hope to return from injury.

Back three

Blair Kinghorn’s strength and counter-attack running have re-emerged in Scotland’s last two matches, so he regains our full-back jersey from Ireland’s Hugo Keenan, although a doubt remains over when Kinghorn might get released for Lions duty from his French club Toulouse.

The injury that ruled Lowe out of what turned out to be Ireland’s pivotal Six Nations loss to France cleared up for the wing to impress again in Italy, and he and Duhan van der Merwe still look good bets to face up to Australia’s physically strong backline and kicking game.

England’s Tommy Freeman and the much smaller Scot, Darcy Graham, are pushing them hard, and we wait to see if England’s dynamic Immanuel Feyi-Waboso can get fit in time.

Centres

We had Freeman as the Lions’ No 13 last summer, in a punt based on him seeing more time in that position this season, but it was only the sad Achilles-tendon injury to Ollie Lawrence that gave Freeman the jersey for England in the rout of Wales.

The Northampton Saints man scored a try in all five of his side’s Six Nations matches, and he has a persuasive blend of strength, aerial ability and footballing skill. The only question over Freeman is his defence, and Australia’s clever coach Joe Schmidt and rugby league recruit Joseph Sua’ali’i would be the types to test it. Let’s see where Freeman plays in forthcoming big matches such as Northampton’s European last-16 tie with Clermont Auvergne in three weeks’ time. 

As it stands, Huw Jones as a regular centre edges Freeman onto our bench, and we’re sticking with Jones’s Scotland pal Tuipulotu as the No 12, subject to the latter proving his fitness after not playing a minute of the Six Nations due to surgery on a pectoral muscle injury. Bundee Aki was battered about in the last few weeks but he could get to Australia reinvigorated. Could Fraser Dingwall be a tourist based on rock-solid skills? Robbie Henshaw and Garry Ringrose had an iffy Six Nations, while Wales’s Ben Thomas has shown flashes of brilliance.

Half-backs

Amid much conjecture over Farrell’s liking for Ireland’s Sam Prendergast, the new face for England has been Fin Smith, learning the Test ropes in the starting team in successive wins over France, Scotland, Italy and Wales. But, really, is there any need to look beyond Finn Russell as fly-half? The Scot can play any style, and it is ridiculous to think his stock was diminished by a couple of missed kicks against England, although he will surely never repeat the mistake of allowing the referee to incorrectly push one of those kicks further out.

Proponents of Owen Farrell to tour are citing his Lions experience, but would this trip to Australia be too daunting for someone like Smith, Prendergast, Jack Crowley or Marcus Smith?

At scrum-half, Jamison Gibson-Park is one of several Leinster players who can use the coming weeks to remind everyone of his credentials. Alex Mitchell will want to emulate England scrum-halves on Lions tours in the professional era – Matt Dawson, Austin Healey, Kyran Bracken, Harry Ellis and Ben Youngs – while Scotland’s Ben White is another in good nick. It’s been difficult to judge the consistency in decision-making by Tomos Williams in such a struggling Wales team.

Our Lions squad to start the first Test against Australia on 19 July

Backs:

• 15 Blair Kinghorn (Sco)
• 14 Duhan van der Merwe (Sco)
• 13 Huw Jones (Sco)
• 12 Sione Tuipulotu (Sco)
• 11 James Lowe (Ire)
• 10 Finn Russell (Sco)
• 9 Jamison Gibson-Park (Ire)

Forwards:

• 1 Ellis Genge (Eng)
• 2 Dan Sheehan (Ire)
• 3 Tadhg Furlong (Ire)
• 4 Maro Itoje (Eng)
• 5 Tadhg Beirne (Ire)
• 6 Jamie Ritchie (Sco)
• 7 Jac Morgan (Wal)
• 8 Caelan Doris (Ire)

Bench:

• 16 D Lake (Wal)
• 17 A Porter (Ire)
• 18 W Stuart (Eng)
• 19 Joe McCarthy (Ire)
• 20 Ben Earl (Eng)
• 21 Alex Mitchell (Eng)
• 22 Fin Smith (Eng)
• 23 Tommy Freeman (Eng)

Front row

Furlong stays in, just, after playing only 35 minutes of the Six Nations, in Ireland’s closing win in Italy.

A surge by Will Stuart of England gets him on the bench, while hooker Dan Sheehan is one of the 11 players ever-present in our suggested starting teams.

England vice-captain Ellis Genge has nicked ahead of Ireland’s Andrew Porter as the loosehead prop, with plenty of minutes, and good scrummaging performances allied to the Bristol Bear man’s willingness to carry.

Second row

We highlighted Maro Itoje’s captaincy credentials around the turn of the year and it has been beneficial – if not actually a sign of someone’s intentions behind the scenes – that after 10 years of captaining nobody, he has begun to skipper his club Saracens and England this season.

Captain or not, Itoje is locked in at lock, and Tadhg Beirne stays next to him. Joe McCarthy and England’s Ollie Chessum are among the bench prospects.

Back row

Ben Curry has been the improver of the season in England, carving a niche with his turnovers and all-round play. He has hit that sweet spot of timing it right to go for the ball, as seen when he picked the pocket of Wales’s Max Llewellyn on Saturday, and Italy and Scotland in previous rounds. Scotland’s Jamie Ritchie slipped out of our team when he was on the bench earlier in the Six Nations, but he always looks like a Farrell-type pick at No 6, with aerial prowess, and as a resilient battler and jackaller.

At No 7, should the Lions pick a Welshman just to have all four nations represented? Probably not, so Morgan needs to keep fighting for his place, and he has a chance to shine in Ospreys’ Welsh derby with Scarlets in the European Challenge Cup next month. Caelan Doris at No 8 has never ceased doing what Caelan Doris does, but he is under pressure from Ben Earl, while Taulupe Faletau and Jack Conan are among those with Lions experience.

When it all comes down to it, we will need to know the style of play Andy Farrell’s Lions are aiming for, their view on the split of forwards and backs on the bench (we have gone for a 5-3), and so on.