Advertisement
Tim Hales/AP/Press Association Images
Power Rankings

Careful now: It's Warren G's slippery Lions ladder

Everything a Lions coach needs to size up the international season without putting his ankles at risk.

THE FIRST ROUNDS of the Heineken Cup are behind us.

Halloween is a matter of days away. The Big Rugby Game – or whatever SANZAR are calling the Tri-Nations nowadays – is over.

You know what all this means: November, and the start of another international season.

And not just any international season, oh no. It’s a Lions year, baby!

By the time we reach game number five in next year’s Six Nations players will (hopefully not literally) be clawing eachother’s eyes out to prove to Warren Gatland that they deserve a trip to Australia.

So, between today and Gatland’s squad announcement we’ll bring you this ranking of which players are closest to penetrating Gatty’s inner circle (stop giggling down the back) and who should keep their paws to themselves. In other words; the players in order of how badly Gatland will want them in the team.

We’ll keep the list to 45 names and try to even out the positions so that three teams can be made from that number, the final Lions squad should be well within that number… unless Gatty goes all Clive Woodward on us.

As the season progresses and takes shape we’ll have a much clearer picture of whose form deserves a round-the-world trip and we will also try to take into account factors like tokenism, favouritism and who’s gonna look the best carrying their board around Bondi.

All set? Here’s the first set of rungs.

  1. Paul O’Connell.
  2. Gethin Jenkins.
  3. Sam Warburton.
  4. Mike Ross.
  5. Nick Easter.
  6. Mike Phillips.
  7. Rob Kearney.
  8. Stephen Ferris.
  9. Jonathan Sexton.
  10. Richie Gray.
  11. Adam Jones.
  12. Jamie Roberts.
  13. Cian Healy.
  14. Leigh Halfpenny.
  15. Rory Best.
  16. Jamie Heaslip.
  17. Toby Flood.
  18. Dan Lydiate.
  19. Brian O’Driscoll.
  20. Sean O’Brien.
  21. Richard Hibbard.
  22. Chris Robshaw.
  23. David Denton.
  24. Eoin Reddan.
  25. George North.
  26. Dan Cole.
  27. Alun Wyn Jones.
  28. Alex Corbisiero.
  29. Owen Farrell.
  30. Tommy Bowe.
  31. Danny Care.
  32. Geoff Parling.
  33. Manu Tuilagi.
  34. Ross Ford.
  35. Ross Rennie.
  36. Alex Cuthbert.
  37. Ben Foden.
  38. Dan Biggar.
  39. Keith Earls.
  40. Chris Ashton.
  41. Ali Kellock.
  42. Jonathan Davies.
  43. Toby Faletau.
  44. Jonny Wilkinson.
  45. Stuart Hogg.

….186. Gavin Henson.

‘A lot more to come’ from Harlequins – insists Conor O’Shea

We’re on the bottom of that pit but there’s light at the end of the tunnel – Rob Penney

Your Voice
Readers Comments
3
    Submit a report
    Please help us understand how this comment violates our community guidelines.
    Thank you for the feedback
    Your feedback has been sent to our team for review.