Gavin Hastings is a huge fan of the Irish pack and no poor performances are going to affect that.
After the first round of Six Nations fixtures, the Scotland legend was asked to update his pick for the starting British & Irish Lions XV based on the weekend of action.
We’re sure you remember that Ireland saw their Grand Slam dreams come to a crashing end before they even got started as Scotland claimed a 27-22 victory at Murrayfield.
The weekend also saw tournament favourites England squeak by France in a showing that won’t exactly fill their upcoming opponents with fear while Wales needed a late sprint to get past Italy in probably the least entertaining game of the weekend.
Only two Irishmen stood out for us following the defeat to Scotland as bankers for the Lions jersey but, surprisingly, Hastings was altogether more generous to Joe Schmidt’s men.
They really stood out in trying conditions https://t.co/BqMONqpvy2
— SportsJOE (@SportsJOEdotie) February 7, 2017
Hastings selected four Irish representatives in his eight starting forwards; with Jack McGrath, Tadhg Furlong, CJ Stander and Jamie Heaslip all making the grade.
Scottish scrum half Greig Laidlaw did enough for ‘Big Gav’ to overtake Conor Murray at number 9 after what wasn’t Murray’s best afternoon in the green jersey.
Hastings could only find room for one Irish back in the form of out-half Paddy Jackson, who scored Ireland’s second try of the game which put the visitors briefly in the lead.
In reality, Jackson will be behind his international compatriot Johnny Sexton in the Lions pecking order but granting five Irishmen starting places in his Lions XV seems awfully sound of Hastings.
Gavin Hastings has selected his Lions XV after Round 1 of @SixNationsRugby. How does your squad compare? #LionsWatch https://t.co/Y844mKoCyR pic.twitter.com/colFgBMaP4
— British & Irish Lions (@lionsofficial) February 7, 2017
Interestingly, Hastings only found a place for two England internationals in the side, with five Scotsmen and three Wales players completing the order.
