It is 17 years since Leinster Lions dropped the second half of their name, a marketing project that lasted just three seasons, but that moniker has never been more apt.
hen Warren Gatland announces his Lions squad on Thursday afternoon, Leinster will likely have more names included than ever before, even if – as expected – the Kiwi reduces his touring party to about 36 players, down from 41 four years ago.
Leinster have provided five or six players for the last four Lions tours – for 2021 I suspect they will have at least seven involved. If they win on Sunday, in what is essentially a final trial for quite a few of them, there could be as many as 10.
The likes of Cian Healy, Rónan Kelleher, Andrew Porter and Hugo Keenan will be watched closely by Gatland and Co.
You have enough things to focus on ahead of a game of this magnitude; thoughts of a Lions tour can be an unwelcome distraction. It’s not the kind of subject you can easily shove to the back of your mind either – once that seed is planted it starts to germinate.
You’re probably better off being oblivious to it all, just like I was when Gatland and Ian McGeechan were last assembling a Lions squad to take on the World Cup winners from the Rainbow Nation.
When my name was read out in 2009 I was the definition of a bolter; not many players make the Lions squad having failed to feature, while fully fit, in the previous Six Nations.
Keith Earls and I had been 23rd and 24th men for most of the Grand Slam that spring; the Lions were far removed from my thinking.
March 14, 2009 was the day I reluctantly consigned my dream of playing on a Lions tour to the bin. I was turning 35 the following July, it was simple maths.
It’s hard to park those ambitions, even in the latter stages of your career. But as the drummers loosened their elbows for the anthems at Murrayfield, I saw Gatland and McGeechan take their seats just a few rows behind myself and Earlsy. It’s impossible to be scouted when you can’t be seen.
You can only imagine my shock and elation then when my name was read out by McGeechan five weeks later, only for it all to come crumbling down around me in the weeks that followed.
There’s no need to revisit the incident with Leo Cullen and the 12-week ban that followed, I’ve retraced those painful steps in these pages and elsewhere enough over the years, but the point I’m making is players can force themselves into the Lions picture on club form alone.
In that respect, with just one team from the Lions-eligible nations involved in this weekend’s Champions Cup semi-finals, Leinster’s players have a distinct advantage to sway, or change, Gatland’s mind. Having Robyn McBride in both coaching set-ups will do them no harm either.
I’m almost certain my selection in 2009 came on the back of a quarter-final performance against Ospreys – we demolished them 43-9 at Thomond Park.
I played well, I stripped the ball in a couple of tackles, made my fair share of hits, but I wasn’t spectacular. I must have done something right though, it all depends on what the coach is looking for I suppose.
On that note, you can be sure Gatland will be keeping a close eye on Kelleher’s lineout work on Sunday. I would pick the Leinster hooker for the Lions anyway; he brings enough in the loose to make the frame alongside Ken Owens and one of Jamie George or Luke Cowan-Dickie.
As a former hooker, Gatland will instinctively watch the No 2s that bit closer anyway. And Kelleher is the kind of player he likes – a dynamic ball-carrier, solid defensively and a strong scrummager – but the throwing remains one area for improvement.
He’s not poor from touch by any means, he just needs to prove he is comfortable dealing with disruptive and aggressive defensive lineouts – an area of strength for the South Africans.
Alongside Kelleher in the front-row, Healy needs a big game at loosehead. It’s not a standout area of competition for the Lions, similar to hooker and scrum-half, so a solid performance from Healy could secure his spot on the plane with Wyn Jones and Mako Vunipola. Rory Sutherland is in the mix too.
It would be a shame to see Healy (33), a 109-cap international who has delivered so consistently for club and country, finish his career without playing a Test match for the Lions.
There is little room for sentiment in these selection scenarios, but if he can produce something close to his best against La Rochelle, which will be no mean feat against the 145kg Uini Atonio, he may finally tick that Lions box.
Tadhg Furlong is as close to a sure thing there is for this tour, as long as he stays fit, while I would be bringing Andrew Porter to South Africa too.
He may be Ireland’s second-choice tighthead but he would probably be first-choice at Scotland and Wales were they lucky enough to have him.
Porter’s versatility, experience (37 Tests) and the impact he brings off the bench make him an ideal tourist alongside Furlong and Kyle Sinckler.
Robbie Henshaw and Garry Ringrose, even more so since George North suffered an ACL injury, look destined to continue Leinster’s regular representation in the Lions midfield, while Johnny Sexton has enough credit in the bank and sufficient recent form to stand over to get on a third Lions tour as long as he is fit enough.
James Ryan hasn’t played much rugby but he is another who cannot be left out if available.
Gatland would have liked to have seen more of Caelan Doris – he was on the trajectory for inclusion in this summer’s squad before being struck down with injury but he has lost his battle with the clock.
Josh van der Flier and Jack Conan have been able to time their runs a bit better – both have been playing close to career-best rugby in recent months – but they may struggle to dislodge the back-row front-runners, particularly their English and Welsh peers, from Gatland’s thinking.
Keenan and even someone like Luke McGrath could be closer to the frame under a different coaching ticket but both may miss out to more physically imposing alternatives.
If there is a close call Gatland will pick the bigger man, that’s how he has always leaned.
It may be unfair on Keenan, a brilliant footballer who attacks the line and is so committed in the air, and McGrath, arguably the form scrum-half in Europe, but that’s how Gatland operates.
Keenan’s versatility and reliability under the high ball would be an asset on a tour in South Africa so he is not without a chance, particularly with another commanding showing this weekend.
But McGrath would be a bolter in the true sense of the word.
First of all, however, before the dull roar rises, they have a European semi-final to win.
Alan Quinlan's Leinster Lions
NAILED ON
Tadhg Furlong, Robbie Henshaw, Garry Ringrose, James Ryan.
SHOULD GO
Johnny Sexton, Andrew Porter, Rónan Kelleher, Cian Healy.
OUTSIDE CHANCE
Josh van der Flier, Jack Conan, Hugo Keenan.
BOLTERS
Luke McGrath, Jordan Larmour, Ryan Baird, Rhys Ruddock.
