Scarlets centre Scott Williams seemed more surprised that Garry Ringrose had not made the Lions squad than him when we spoke with him last week.
Williams had been tipped in some quarters to make the British & Irish Lions squad but, like Ringrose, he missed out on selection. Two Kiwis - Ben Te'o and Jared Payne - were included but Williams took his omission with good grace and vowed to work even harder with Wales this summer.
And then he returned to Ringrose, expressing his surprise that the 22-year-old was not heading to New Zealand this summer. "He's a had great season," said Williams. "He is very, very unlucky there."
That seems to be the general consensus when it comes to Ringrose missing out. Such is the public sentiment that Warren Gatland felt the need to again tell reporters, over the weekend, how unfortunate the Leinster star was to miss the cut.
https://twitter.com/SportsJOEdotie/status/864010454401732608
As luck would have it, Ringrose was up for media duties at Leinster's Newstead Buildings at U.C.D this afternoon.
And, of course, Gatland's comments came up. Ringrose insisted he had not seen the comments in full but agreed with the concept of Gatland not publicly naming stand-by players. He did reveal, though, that there had been no personal contact from the Lions head coach.
Ringrose's take on his close call sums up his class and maturity.
He told The42:
"I was watching the selection with everyone else. It was exciting to watch as a squad, I’m delighted for the five guys that did get called out.
"'Disappointed' wouldn’t have been the right word to use, it’d suggest I’m putting a dampener on the opportunities I have been given. Six months ago I made my debut for Ireland, which I wouldn’t have dreamed of doing before then. I appreciate the opportunities.
"Even the same week as the Lions squad announcement we had the [Champions Cup] semi-final, so no one really dwelt on it that much."
With another semi-final fast approaching, against Williams and Scarlets, this weekend, Ringrose won't be dwelling on Gatland's latest hot-take too much. We hope.
