Who’s the best 1 or 2 season wonder who got Lions caps?
I’ve always been fascinated by those players who had no right to be a lion (only with hindsight I should add, when you look at their career). You know, the ones who had 1 great 6 nations/season building up to the Lions tour, get selected on form and merit, then after it’s over either never play international again or had severe dips in form. Usually you’d consider the Lions to be the ‘Greats’, and when you think about Farrell, Biggar, Alun Wyn Jones, Sexton, O’Connell, Warburton, Itoje, that tends to be the trend. Then you get the other end, the guys who were amazing for 1 season building up.
Some options would be from me:
- Ben Te’o, 18 England caps over 2 years, and 2 lions test caps?? Absolutely insane.
- Jared Payne, 20 Ireland Caps over 3y, made the Squad in 2017.
And when you then consider the likes of Jonny May, 70 caps for England, 2nd top try scorer for England, and one of the best wingers over 10y for England, he missed out to a Payne or a Tommy Seymour?
I know in the moment these men deserved there spots based on current form (subjectively) but it’s an interesting thing to think about to me.
Who’s your favourite?