If the task of selecting any international side involves a head coach blending art and science, then the job of nailing down a British & Irish Lions Test team is a lot like alchemy, an exploration of the unknown pursued in the hope of finding a magical elixir. For Andy Farrell, this has been a unique challenge; with the quadrennial tourists, there can be no thought given to fixtures of the future – just the task at hand of three Tests against Australia in which his Lions legacy will be defined.
Unanimity of approving voices is an impossible pursuit, proud patriots, dissidents and detractors sure to argue the case of those excluded regardless of the actual composition. Take, for example, the exclusion from the first Test of the unfortunate Jac Morgan, which leaves the Lions without a Welshman for the first time since the 19th century – on form, the scavenging openside has probably been the best No 7 on tour but misses out to Tom Curry, already a three-time Test Lion and the sort of big match animal the side will feel they need against the Wallabies.
