A win for Wyn as Will insists prop Jones is a must for Lions line-up
WARREN Gatland has been coaching long enough to know that superstars are not always the complete answer.
Big names often take a team only so far.
So it is that England World Cup winner Will Greenwood looks beyond the usual suspects to suggest Wyn Jones as being one of the first men he’d turn to for the Lions Test team this summer.
The former Llandovery prop, who spent time in lockdown helping out on his dad’s sheep farm, is unlikely to see his moniker up in neon lighting any time soon.
But he had an outstanding Six Nations and Greenwood is a fan.
In a colourful player-by-player guide in The Telegraph ahead of the Lions tour to South Africa this summer, the former midfield man writes of the Scarlet: “Jones is close to the first name on the team-sheet on the back of this year’s Six Nations and his fabulous performances in Wales’ Six Nations’ victory.
“The Welshman was in my team of the week in three of five weeks. He carries, he scrums, he offloads, he tackles. One of the easier selections.”
The Six Nations Greenwood up.
In terms of carries, metres made, ball in hand moments and tackles, Jones outshone all his Lions rivals, while he held his own in the scrums and packed a presence over the ball.
He secured a man-of-thematch award against Ireland, in opposition to Andrew Porter and Tadhg Furlong, to add to the one he picked up the against the Barbarians in the first game of Wayne Pivac’s reign as Wales coach.
Greenwood is upbeat about all of Gatland’s party, but reserves special positivity for a select few, with Ireland lock Iain Henderson among them.
Like Wyn Jones, the 6ft 6in Ulster player had an excellent Six Nations, making more metres, achieving more turnovers and having more ball-in-hand moments than his specialist stats back rivals. He also claimed more lineout ball than any other second row in the tournament.
And despite the presence of Alun Wyn Jones and Maro Itoje in the Lions ranks, Greenwood reckons the 29-year-old from Craigavon wears the looks of a Test man. That, of course, means one of the two clear favourites would miss out on the Test team.
“Henderson is in my starting Test XV at the moment,” he writes
“He reminds me a lot of Jeremy Davidson from 1997 – a huge, Irish lump who is massively effective – because he’s not just a huge lump. He is a clever rugby player who is top-quality in the lineout and a great ball-handler. “Never has a bad game.” Where skipper Jones scores heavily, of course, is with his excellence in defence, his leadership and his never-say-die mental toughness. He also carried a lot during the Six Nations. Stats alone can never do justice to what he contributes, but if anyone wants a battle over on-pitch numbers, he has the 75 Six Nations tackles (and much more besides) to more than hold his own.
Itoje had a relatively quiet championship compared to Jones and Henderson, and was indisciplined, giving away 12 penalties. By contrast, Henderson didn’t incur the wrath of the officials once.
The Irishman’s challenge for a place against South Africa is likely to be a significant one, then. He isn’t boarding the plane just for the ride.
Greenwood describes Dan Biggar as the player he’s most pleased for, contending he hasn’t always been a popular fly-half choice in Wales, while Taulupe Faletau is seen as consistently brilliant -- “the classic ‘you hum it and I’ll play it’ player for a coach’” – with Ken Owens a man who does everything.
Louis Rees-Zammit is someone Greenwood would choose for the Test team “as things stand”, while Liam Williams another is expected to be there or thereabouts.