Sure get these three lads in the Lions squad and we’ll be laughing.
Earlier this season, a Jonny Gray stat was doing the rounds that impressed the hell out of us.
Jonny Gray has now played over 750 minutes of Test rugby without missing a tackle. At least 136 in a row #rugbyunited pic.twitter.com/84qifIfP0c
— Jamie Lyall (@JLyall93) November 27, 2016
Gray also made 50 out 50 tackles in the Champions Cup after only three rounds. The man is clearly a machine.
Donnacha Ryan played a blinder in Munster’s 32-7 win over Racing 92 in Paris. The Munster lock hit every Racing player within sight, and with everything he had.
He was initially credited with 13 successful tackles but that was upgraded to 15 after statisticians looked back on the footage.
Said it before and I will say it again, Donnacha Ryan should start every game for club and country. Animal.
— Munster Haka (@MunsterHaka) January 7, 2017
Ryan made five successful hits after missing one in the first half of Munster’s recent league win over Leinster. That puts him on 20.
He has a ways to go if he is to threaten Jonny Gray’s numbers but one player is well ahead of them both.
Ospreys and Wales flanker Justin Tipuric has made 160 successful tackles in a row. The openside has 109 unblemished tackles in the current Guinness PRO12 campaign and his record stretches back to last month.
Indeed, according to Wales Online, Tipuric has gone 11 months without missing a tackle. The last time he missed his man was playing for Wales against Scotland in the 2016 Six Nations.
Ryan, Gray and Tipuric as the men to shut down the All Blacks this summer? It wouldn’t be a bad shout.
