At the end of a long day’s talking, with Warren Gatland and his Lions selectors picking apart the minutiae of the selection process they had just completed, the mind goes back to one single Gatland comment: if this tour had been to Australia or New Zealand, then the squad would have been different. Just that alone explains so much. It won’t do much to help those still smarting at their omission, but if this hadn’t been a tour to South Africa, then Henry Slade would surely have been on that plane, so too James Ryan, probably Jonny Gray, Garry Ringrose. The list could go on. It may have included Kyle Sinckler; there probably isn’t a tight-head in the northern hemisphere with hands as good as

Source: The Times May 06, 2021 12:38 UTC