@Megweya said in BIL Lions - Warburton: not the Test captain?:
Gatland hinted at this about 6-8 weeks ago, talking about a "tour captain".
In most recent tours the captain has been as a player unquestionably one of the first names on the teamsheet: Martin Johnson, BOD, Paul O'Connell.
On 2 tours the captaincy has changed due to injury (2005, 2013) so it is possible that the captain will have to change regardless of the elevated-focus on the role.
I think that Warburton is not one of 5 almost-guaranteed first-XV players (Furlong, Billy Vinipola, Murray, Sexton, Farrell).
Is he a much better captain than Rory Best or Alun-Wyn Jones? No.
Is he more of a game-changing player in the back-row than Sean O'Brien or CJ Stander? No.
I think the captain's role is one area that Gatland has (rightly) hedged his bets. Warburton was Lions captain in Australia in 2013, more than that he already has "series-winning Lions captain" on his CV.
So if SOB or CJ are blasting through their opponents ahead of the tests, I would not be surprised if Gatland and Howley tap Sam on the shoulder the week before the first Test and say "We'd like a quiet word ..." ©2013-SA-tour.
BOD on how he found out he was dropped in 2013
“I got the tap on the shoulder on Wednesday morning when I was at the coffee machine. Gats and Rob Howley wanted to have a quiet word.
I realised a 'quiet word' in the meeting room was not a good sign. They were not about to ask me to be captain. That would have been said to me there and then.”
It would go like this - Gatland/Howley: "Sam, it is a shame about your form (or that CJ/SOB on tour are streets ahead of you). We don't want to leave you out, but the other guys are better than you.
It is not as if you won't ever have been a Lions Test captain - you've literally got the series-winner captain t-shirt.
So be the nice guy that you are and for the team take it on your considerable chin that you will not be captain in the First Test."
And Sam will say "Oh, OK Warren, Rob. I accept that you know best. Will I be on the bench?"
"Yes, ... against the Chiefs, the Māoris and the Canes"
As an Irish fan, I can say that it would not be the most controversial Lions Test non-selection that Gatland has ever made.
The only difference to the 2013 line that they would have given to BOD is that this time they won't have to say "We can't pick you because we (Welsh coaches) think two Welsh players are better than you".
They might even have to say to Sam "We can't pick you because we think two Irish players are better than you". (Or 2 Welsh, or 2 English - but not the 1 Scot (=Hogg; Seymour born in USA), nor the 3 Kiwis).
If the tour-captain had been someone who had never played in a Lions test (Best, Hartley) or only ever had a Test as a replacement captain (Wyn-Jones), it might have been more destructive/disruptive to have not given that tour-captain the role of the test-captain.
No love for Scots legends Finlay Calder and Gav Hastings in your opening paragraph? This is a shamefully anti Scottish post.
