LONDON -When Andy Farrell named his British and Irish Lions squad there were few dissenting voices, but while his 38 might have been largely predictable, it is a very different story when it comes to his preferred test team.
One of the joys of the Lions is how players initially seen as on the periphery, or even late injury additions, often force themselves into test contention, but there is usually an established core of maybe a dozen who most fans would pencil in as test certainties.
That is not, however, the case for this campaign, which kicks off with a warm-up against Argentina on Friday ahead of three tests in Australia.
Farrell named his squad for that game on Wednesday, but nothing can be drawn from it as his hands were tied by the involvement of so many players in last Saturday’s club finals.
Captain Maro Itoje will lead the team in Dublin and, having played all three Lions tests in New Zealand and South Africa, he is a nailed-on starter in a squad full of proven international quality but short of star names.
Farrell will already have strong ideas, but how players perform and interact over the next few weeks will have a huge impact.
The halfback selection is often seen as setting the tone for how a team will play and the current favourite combination to start is Jamison Gibson-Park and Finn Russell.
The former has been consistently superb for Ireland and Russell has added a layer of consistency and pragmatism for Premiership-winning Bath which has silenced most of those who criticised his “maverick” tendencies as too high-risk.
The Scot showed he still has his “did he just do that?” moments when he stunned Twickenham by slinging a try-scoring pass to Max Ojomoh in the Premiership final when he could easily have crossed the line himself, but the opportunity arose only because of his clever interception on the halfway line.
BIG DECISION
England’s Fin Smith is a more-than capable, if inexperienced, second choice, which leaves Farrell with a big question over the other Smith – Marcus.
Farrell made it clear that Marcus Smith had been selected due to his ability to play 10 and 15 – where he starts on Friday – which would appear to make him ideal bench material but an unlikely starter.
Blair Kinghorn is the favourite for fullback but, as he will miss the early games of the tour while playing for Toulouse, Hugo Keenan and Elliot Daly, even more of a utility player than Smith, will get a chance to stake an early claim.
Scotland’s Sione Tuipulotu, having barely played all season, also needs to quickly prove he is back to the form that made him favourite to play centre. If he does, that might favour the inclusion of his Scotland partner Huw Jones.
Farrell, though, might prefer his tried and tested Irish pairing of Bundee Aki and Garry Ringrose.
The Lions look short of electric pace out wide, but they do have power and finishing ability, with James Lowe, Duhan van der Merwe and Tommy Freeman battling for two slots.
There is an embarrassment of riches in the back row where any combination of his six picks – including precocious 20-year-old Henry Pollock – ticks the world-class box.
Front row is also expected to be a strength in an area where Australia have traditionally struggled. Hooker Luke Cowan-Dickie played all three tests in 2021 and is a destructive force, while Ireland’s Dan Sheehan is almost a freak in his tryscoring ability.
How the props work together will be key to Farrell’s selection, though he has lost Scotland’s Zander Fagerson to injury.
The Argentina match gives 23 players their first chance to lay down a marker but the real work will be done during the five tour games and training sessions before Farrell reveals his squad for the first test in Brisbane on July 19.