A bold, brave call from the former Lions and England international.
Now that the Champions Cup pool action is drawing to a close and the Six Nations is just two weeks away, every single match from now until June will be highly scrutinised in terms of players’ performances and their subsequent likelihood for Lions selection.
It’s a topic which will be firmly discussed in the pubs, clubhouses and realms of social media and there will undoubtedly be disagreements between fans as they try to predict who can topple the mighty All Blacks over a three-Test series in the summer.
Today, in the build up to Sky Sports’ coverage of the Challenge Cup tie between Stade Francais and Harlequins, host James Gemmell and pundit, Will Greenwood, had to kill a lot of time as the match was delayed for over an hour due to a frozen pitch.
As a result, we were given a lot of unscripted and off-the-cuff discussion in relation to the hot topics in rugby right now which ranged from Connacht’s season so far after winning the Guinness PRO12 last year to the inevitable discussion surrounding the Lions.
Well, Greenwood offered his Lions XV which he would choose to face the All Blacks and our eyes couldn’t help be drawn to the man he had chosen to fill the 14 shirt.
Leinster’s Adam Byrne.
As we wait for the delayed kick off between Stade Francais and Harlequins, Will Greenwood picks his Lions XV: pic.twitter.com/xOZp9CFjzb
— Sky Sports Rugby Union (@SkySportsRugby) January 22, 2017
That’s Adam Byrne who has yet to make an appearance for Ireland and one which this writer thinks his international debut will come in the tour of Japan in the summer.
To be fair to Greenwood, he makes an attempt to justify his surprising decision.
“I’m not going to be sticking anyone into my starting team who I don’t think can do a job. Historically players with zero caps don’t tend to go on Lions tours but it has happened.
“With that I want to focus on Adam Byrne… the wing is a really open spot so why not consider Adam Byrne?”
Greenwood then listed off a number of wingers from each of the home nations to emphasise how openly competitive these positions will be. He then starts to analyse the parts of Byrne’s game which he really appreciates.
“I’ve looked at Adam Byrne on the front foot, I’ve seen him take a great high ball against Montpellier last week which he offloaded to Jack Conan. I’ve seen him go to Castres, come off the right hand side of a scrum. Bang, through, power, step, Henshaw under the sticks. I’ve seen him kick from deep, all these sort of things.”
Byrne’s ability under a high ball is definitely something which he can be proud of and it is undoubtedly one of his biggest strengths.
Incredible take from Adam Byrne. Wonder did he play Gaelic when he was younger… #CASvLEI pic.twitter.com/OIfLtPkMIK
— Seán McMahon (@Sean_McMahon89) January 20, 2017
Greenwood however, does highlight an area which the Kildare man needs to improve, his positioning under pressure.
“Under pressure, my one concern is that he can lose his man as a left winger. Someone can sneak in behind him and someone like Barret with wingers like Savea at his disposal, they can nip it in or dink it over the top.”
Even Greenwood himself would probably admit that it is highly unlikely that Byrne will be picked for the Lions, let alone the starting Test team to face the All Blacks.
Nevertheless, stranger things have happened in rugby and you would imagine Byrne’s first step to fulfilling Greenwood’s prophecy is to be named in the Ireland squad for the Six Nations.
This we will find out on Monday.
