I'm bored. Scottish players that will get into next tour as things stand...
LH prop - Probably not. Grant didn't take his chance last time, both Ireland and England have 2 excellent looseheads, Wales might be lucky to get Bevington in.
Hooker - Don't feel Scotland currently has one worthy of the Lions. There's a bit of a gap though; Owens would be my guess at the pick now, Strauss, Webber and LCD the dark horses.
TH prop - Nope! I'd bet on Cole, Furlong and Samson Lee at this moment in time. Cole might be replaced by Sinckler or one of the Wilsons, Furlong might lose out to Moore.
TH locks - Now we're talking. Jonny Gray looks a serious brute and him competing for a shirt vs Launchbury and Henderson would be a mouthwatering prospect. Which is missing out AWJ, I thought he was a lot older than that, but he'll only be 31 and a serious candidate for the captaincy next time...
LH locks - You might take Gray snr, but he's a big girl's blouse. Toner and Lawes front runners at this stage. Given how there's a profusion of TH locks, some of whom are excellent jumpers and super athletic, I think the position might be filled from there
BF - Their best chance here might be, oddly enough, Blair Cowan, if he takes his 6N chances. Will be hugely competitive; my early guess would be POM or Croft to keep up with the All Blacks around the park, Ruddock/Lydiate/Itoje if we wish to play smash.
OF - Really like John Barclay as a player, would love to see him have a chance. Still, Wales have two fine players, Ireland have two fine players, even Hask and Robshaw and maybe Kvesic could contend here.
N8 - Ashe and Denton could be serious contenders; Faletau would be my leading choice right now, but I think one of the Scots could well tour here. Burgess would be a cheeky fun bet; one of Morgan and Vunipola if he doesn't make it. Or even Nathan Hughes.
SH - Laidlaw, one of the English mob and Conor Murray. Murray to start at this point. One of the young Scarlets SHs as outside choice.
FH - Scotland have a lot of young guys who could crack this. If we take three, assume Sexton and Farrell (I hope he's dethroned by this point, but, you know) that leaves space for one more, and there's a huge number of fringe international FHs with the talent to make a real go of it. Still, I reckon it will be Paddy Jackson, cos I'm biased.
Wings - All girls, who cares. Visser/Maitland/Seymour all have chances. Probably North and someone, Bowe's reign would have ended by then. Lets say Wade
IC - My money's on Olding, and that's not overly biased this time. Devoto would be a pick in hope. I don't think Scott's quite good enough, yeah, come on, sue me. In the chat though. Roberts could go, but if I'm honest, I think he'll have fell apart by then.
OC - Big hole, big hole. Manu's the obvious choice now but if he hasn't learned how to pass I hope he has competition at least. Jonathan Davies is always a slightly better player than I'm willing to credit him as, maybe one of the big young Welsh lads... I don't see any of England's kids going. Dunbar or Bennett could be options here.
FB - Halfpenny has one shirt, maybe Hogg has another? Maybe. Couldn't ignore Mike Brown at the moment. Hogg or Kearney? I'm not a huge Kearney fan, but he is safer than Hogg right now. It is up to Hogg to improve and hope a wing/FB like Jack Nowell, or Gilroy comes steaming into the picture. Hey, I know, lets pick Liam Williams...
So there we go. The most pointless performance ever; predicting a Lions squad about three months out. It'll all be wrong, but a guess of about three or four Scottish Lions (good Gray, Denton, Laidlaw and a wing) seems fairly safe.
