Lions XV

Okay, i'm going to turn around on all that stuff about journos telling us who's gonna be in the Lions team and do it myself, after all, it's only a bit of fun isn't it?

15. Leigh Halfpenny-as I have said in another post, the guy is a rock. That is all.
14. Alex Cuthbert- scinitillating pace and the guy knows how to score a try. There are question marks over his defensive positioning but at the end of the day, he tore the game away from England with his two tries, the first of which showed his class in finishing.

13. Manu Tuilagi-admittedly he didn't have one of his better games on Saturday but Manu knows how to beat defenders when receiving good passes. He is the kind of class Gatland will need to pierce the Australian defence. For England, I think his main problem, with all due respect, is that he hasn't got the most distributive players inside him.

12. Brian O'Driscoll- The man's a warrior and it doesn't matter what number is on the back of his shirt. Next?
11. Tommy Bowe- he is almost the forgotten winger at the moment. He's a real natural finisher and it's really annoying because he always scores against England! This is an asumption but i'm sure he probably plays well with O'Driscoll bearing in mind Bowe racks up the tries. 51 caps 26 tries how's that for a stat?
10. Johnny Sexton- he runs AND he can kick. There is no other British fly half in the same class as Sexton in my opinion. Like all good 10s he knows what to do and when to do it, what's more is that he can execute it as well. Ireland's best performance in the Six Nations was when Sexton was pulling all the strings. Better than that Farrell bloke by a mile, eh?
9. Mike Phillips- it's a close call but if the first test was tomorrow i'd have to pick Phillips. Still time is plenty for Murray, Youngs and Care.
1. Cian Healy- relatively poor Six Nations compared to Gethin Jenkins but he has won 3 Heineken Cups in 4 years so clearly has at least a little bit of talent. Form is temporary, class is permanent they say
2. Rory Best- Again, it's close between him and Hibbard, who knows? I'm not a front row expert so I have no particular reason why I am picking Best instead of Hibbard. Let the coaches decide.
3. Dan Cole- I've already talked about this battle elsewhere so i'll focus on Dan Cole. He is not only a good scrummager (keeping Castro out of the Leicester team) but his work in the loose is astonishing-it's almost like the number 7 is on his shirt!
4. Alun Wyn-Jones- I've never really payed particular interest to him personally on the field, but all the Welsh fans love him, but then again the Welsh love all of their players (no offence but it's true)
5. Geoff Parling- the sexiest Beard of the Year 2013 award must have improved Parling's game because he's playing like a man-possessed at the moment. He made more clean line breaks than any other England player against Wales so 1) that says a lot about Geoff and 2) it says a lot about England!
6. Tom Wood- already been through why he's so good!
7. Sam Warburton- showed glimpses of his 2011 form and what a world class openside he is. It will need somebody of his experience and calibre to battle Michael Hooper, or even the great George Smith.
8. Toby Faletau- a massive ball carrier who always crosses the gain line, his main rival would be Ben Morgan in my opinion so we'll see how things pan out.

There are many potential wildcard selections flying around the media. I personally will keep tabs on ol' Wilko and see if Toulon do well in the Heineken Cup. Christian Wade would be an interesting choice as he has lightning pace but is seemingly not wanted by England due to his alleged defensive frailties.

I would love to hear about any changes you would make to my team and/or any wildcard selctions you would make in the comments.