Post Six Nations Lions XV - Openside Flanker

One of the chief candidates for the next position in my Lions selection was lighting the cigars last week as the betting markets decided to suspend betting, apparently sure that Sam Warburton is on the cusp of being named Lions captain.  Now, I don't know if this is just a recent surge in betting spearheaded by the friends and family of the Welshman, or if 'Gatters' has gotten a bit free and loose with his gob again to someone, but either way, I find it a bit odd, given that the 7 shirt is probably the most competitive position on the plane.  Let's see who's grappling it out for the openside flanker spot, regardless of all the captaincy hoo-ha…

Openside Flanker

I wrote in a previous post that having an out-and-out seven is not a necessity in your side provided you have a balanced backrow, and that's what I'll be keeping in mind with this selection.  If you have a bulldozing, powerhouse blindside and/or number 8 with all the subtlety of Brian Blessed on a particularly obnoxious day, then sure, get a Neil Back, Richie McCaw or David Pocock-esque figure in that 7 shirt.  If you have an all-rounder, a ball playing blindside who isn't too shabby at stealing ball himself, then you can afford a more rounded individual on the other side of the scrum.  And seeing that Chris Robshaw (my number 6 – see my last post) fits into that latter category, I'll be going to going for a more marauding, chaos-inducing character at openside.  The need for a 'pure' scavenger is also lessened by the sad news that David Pocock (to my mind, the world's best 7) will, in all likelihood, miss the series with a knee injury – and although Michael Hooper, Liam Gill, and George Smith are all fantastic replacements, none of them are as lethal over the ball as Pocock at international level, although they may offer more in other areas.

TEST STARTER: SAM WARBURTON.  Shock number 1:  he isn't an 'out and out' openside flanker as many Welsh fans will have you believe.  He averages less turnovers per game than Robshaw or Kelly Brown, both who are players deemed more effective in the 6 shirt.  Shock number 2:  He's not going to be my captain by a long shot.  But despite these 2 points, Warburton can still be the Lions most important player.  The Welsh captain is an outstanding openside flanker with a frankly unbelievable engine that just keeps going for 80 minutes, beating opposite numbers to the breakdown and creating havoc at ruck time.  Halfway through the 6 Nations, I was wandering if he was going to even get on the plane, but he came back magnificently with a great performance against England followed up by some decent club form.  He has a decent set of hands on him, is an effective tackler, a strong carrier, a natural leader and isn't too shabby at stealing ball either.  In many ways, he's pretty similar to Robshaw, and having two quick, scavenging, ball-playing flankers who can also carry is, for me, a great combination to run against a mobile and aggressive Australian pack.  Are they too similar to play together?  There may be some who will say that and, hopefully, only time will tell, but for now Warburton has the 7 shirt.  

DIRT TRACKER:  JUSTIN TIPURIC.   The Celts have been raving about the Ospreys number 7, and rightly so.  I saw him playing live in a Heineken Cup game earlier this season and his speed and precision at the breakdown was a cut above the rest of his colleagues and, against England, this was the case at international level.  His speed across the park can be devastating when a game opens up and hits a higher tempo, and when he's first to the breakdown he has the right build to get really low over the ball and effect turnovers.  He's probably been the form openside out of all the opensides this year, so he definitely gets on the plane – but why isn't he starting?  Well, I've also seen him go missing on occasion in tighter games that don't have the width or tempo to allow him to make use of his speed, and if the game does slow down then the Lions will need a slightly more physical presence in the close exchanges.  However, his moment of magic to set up Cuthbert's second try against Wales – where he showed the awareness and speed of an international centre – was a prime example of what the Ospreys man is capable of, and if he can produce a few more moments like that, he may well force himself into reckoning for a starting jersey.

Who else could be challenging for that 7 shirt?  Well, Robshaw and Brown were both playing in the openside position for their country, but I've picked them as contenders for the 6 shirt, whilst I have other plans for Sean O'Brien.  Chris Henry has won plaudits after a fine season for Ulster, but unfortunately for him, Declan Kidney refused to give the young flanker any significant game time in an international shirt, and he was outperformed in the Heineken Cup by the young Saracen Will Fraser.  Fraser himself has had an outstanding season and will, without doubt, be a future international, but it's hard to see how he can force his way into the reckoning against other more established candidates.   Steffon Armitage is another whose name has been thrown around with abandon after Stuart Lancaster's decision to ignore him for England duty, despite a series of awards and standout performances for the former London Irish chubster in Toulon – but without that recent international exposure and seeing as he was largely outperformed by Julian Salvi in the Heineken Cup quarter final against Leicester, it would be a surprise if he got on the plane.  That said, he has a semi final against Saracens to push his case one final time.

Who would you pick at 7 for the Lions?