PERHAPS THE ONLY positive to take from Munster’s 51-24 bouncing in Glasgow last night was the 75-minute shift that lock Paul O’Connell put in.
Desperately seeking game time ahead of his province’s knockout Heineken Cup tie against Harlequins next weekend, O’Connell showed few signs of the back or knee niggles that have hindered the last 12 months of his career.
The Limerick man will have been buoyed by comments made by Lions head coach Warren Gatland in Hong Kong this week.
Gatland was speaking to Total Rugby Radio at the Hong Kong Sevens event, which was played in the stadium that will host the Lions’ warm-up match against the Barbarians this summer.
His comments will give hope to O’Connell, recently returned from surgery on a troublesome back, and Bowe, who is on the comeback trail after hyper-extending his knee against Northampton Saints in December.
“There are six weeks to go until I name the squad,” Gatland said. “There’s still a lot at stake; players coming back from injury, still a lot up for grabs.
“There’s a huge amount of competition. We’ve sat down during the week – we’ve got together three times so far – and pencilled names down.”
Room for Jamie, Sean and Peter?
Gatland revealed that choosing back rows for the tour to Australia will be his most difficult task.
Stand-out performers in the Six Nations included Justin Tipuric, Chris Robshaw, Sam Warburton, Toby Faletau and Sean O’Brien.
Ireland captain Jamie Heaslip will also have designs on his second Lions tour, Peter O’Mahony is an outside bet and Dan Lydiate is returning from injury but Stephen Ferris’ ankle woes may see him miss out.
“The position of loose forward, we’ve got so much quality there and two or three players are still injured,” said Gatland.
When we pick the squad to go to Australia there will be some real quality players that will be disappointed.
“There are 10 loose forwards [on the shortlist] already and only six or seven can go.”
Gatland is set to name his provisional squad on 21 April.
