The brutal way in which British and Irish Lions players find out if they’ll be on the tour
We still don’t know if the British and Irish Lions will tour this year to the home of the World Cup champions but we do know how they’ll be picked if the event does go ahead.
In most tournaments, players are informed by the coach beforehand on being selected for a side – say for a World Cup or a club side, but with the Lions it’s completely different.
With the British and Irish Lions, they find out at the same time as everyone else – on live television!
Potential squad members are put through the agonising ordeal of having to wait and watch in real-time as they find out if they’ll be in the travelling party that only comes around once every four years.
In 2017, some of the players who thought they’d be travelling to New Zealand filmed their own reactions as they eagerly awaited news of whether they’d become a British and Irish Lion.
We watch as Welsh full-back Leigh Halfpenny gathered his whole family in the living room back in June of 2017 as he waited to find out if he’d been selected.
This was brutal!
Now that would have been tough for Halfpenny – in front of his family and friends, it wouldn’t have been a very pleasant experience had he not made the cut.
An ordeal that is all the more tense, however, is when players are made to await the news in front of their whole teams.
This was the case with Jack Nowell of Exeter Chiefs back in 2017 as he stood by to hear if he’d be travelling to New Zealand as part of the prestigious touring party.
VIDEO: the moment @ExeterChiefs & @EnglandRugby star @nowellsy15 found out he was named in the @lionsofficial squad #LionsNZ2017 #AllForOne pic.twitter.com/IJx0bENXoV
— Exeter Chiefs (@ExeterChiefs) April 19, 2017
This was pretty straightforward for Jack Nowell, his name was called out when expected.
It was a little different for Saracens lock Billy Vunipola back in 2017 as he waited for the call – again, in front of all of his teammates.
As they announced the teams it was read out in a strange order with his brother Mako being called out before him.
All in all, it doesn’t look like a very pleasant experience having to find out the news in this way!
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