I'd be very surprised to see Hill (centre) included. I reckon of the relatively young centres he's behind Slade, Devoto (that's just at Chiefs), Marchant, Mallinder and Tompkins. Probably missing another couple.
I'm in agreement there. Hill is the main victim of Exeter's abundance of centres. I'd be very surprised to see him in the mix.
The second row and centre are where we're likely to lose the most to the Lions but we also need to look at the back row and fullback ...
I wouldn't be massively surprised to see Itoje, Launchbury and Kruis all tour with Lions. I'm not convinced Eddie rates Attwood, but he and Ewels would be two fairly obvious picks alongside Lawes. For the fourth spot, it's a shoot-out between Barrow and Symons IMO, either of whom I think would complement Lawes well.
Back row wise, Underhill is very likely to get a shot along with Sam Jones (if fit). If not Williams or Fearns may get a look-in. As excited as I am about Mercer and the Curry twins, I think it's too soon and I'd rather see them with the U20 World Cup squad - at least for this season.
In the centres, Farrell is a certain tourist and JJ and Daly (as a utility back) must be close to being definite picks. Te'o is a wildcard but given that he's very much a Gatland style of centre, I think he'll be a surprise selection.
That would pretty much leave Slade as our only centre from the current squad ... if that is the case, I'd go with Devoto, Tompkins and Marchant. Sam James is the other player I'd be interested in taking a look at over the likes of Mallinder. He's shown a lot of talent filling at 10 and I'd like to see what he could do at 12.
15s a tough one. I suspect Eddie wants to look at Daly or Watson but with both likely to be Lions tourists, we may get stuck with Brown. Unfortunately, Haley's had a poor/injury-hit season but he or Woodward are probably the next most likely I'd say. As a left field option, Lozowski is almost certain to be on the Argentina tour and could be worth a look at 12 or 15?
