Not for me sorry Alpha. I applaud Smiths selection, it's a little bit of a gamble, but Smith is a potential bolter who could have a serious impact of this tour imo.
I also love the fact that there's still room in this modern day to pluck an inexperienced, almost uncapped player for the lions. Smith is just that sort of selection for me, a player who's been very good for a couple of seasons with his club, and absolutely sensational this season. The impact he had with Harlequins in winning the prem cannot be underestimated.
I put Simmonds in this bracket too. Maybe neither end up making a huge impact, but I still applaud the boldness of selecting them.
Sexton has been an amazing player, one of the very best, especially for Leinster and Ireland for the most part, and he probably would have been the safe option, but Biggar is already that safe option who's also been in better form.
That's the way I see this one anyway. Hoping to see Smith tear it up on the weekend and showing why he's possibly a world star in the making.
I absolutely contend Biggar being in better form, Sexton was better 1v1 with 14 men in Cardiff, Ireland were ahead when both left the pitch. He was Motm v Scotland. Top three player on the pitch v England, and the only player to start those games not to tour. Biggar was bailed out by Sheedy more than once. Russell did everything he could to lose to England. Farrell, well read the England thread. At the end of the 6 nations Sexton was most people's pick to start.
Sexton's the safer, better option, Smith literally isn't a good enough player to be better than Sexton in any scenario here. Smith hasn't played a European knockout for crying out loud, he's a world star in the making, maybe, but he's far from a positive addition in a Lion's tour over world star Johnny Sexton.
He was integral for Quins winning a prem, great. Sexton captained Leinster to 3 of their 4 Pro14s in a row, never failed to reach European knockouts and won world player of the year in the timeframe. When Sexton had as many caps as Smith he had a motm in a win over world champions South Africa not an ok performance v Canada.
I know Gatland is a legend in Wales, that's totally fair. I know it's hard to criticise and I was slow to with Schmidt but I got there, and if in a similar position he picked Harry Byrne or Marcus Smith over Dan Biggar I hope I'd call it a farce because it would be.
Admitting you'd applaud the boldness of a failed decision just shows me how lost you are in it all. Without Sexton in '13 and '17 Gatland never wins a Lions tour or gets a win over NZ, not a chance, Marcus Smith isn't better than the backups he had for those tours.
Lads just please stop and think about this, forget the bullshit Lions "aura", forget the coach, forget the clubs and nationalities of the players. You're playing South Africa tomorrow and have to pick Sexton or Smith, the only reason you'd pick Smith is if you want South Africa to win. It's a bogus selection, one of many and very much indicative of the reason half the Irish/English/Scottish on this forum have borderline distasteful South African usernames!
