The Telegraph pick their Lions squad to take on South Africa in 2021

British and Irish Lions

by Steven Smith

Tuesday, 22 September 2020 at 08:11

bySteven Smith

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Plenty of pundits have already had a go at guessing how the British & Irish Lions will line-up for the first test, but The Telegraph have gone one step further and tried to predict the whole squad.

Respected rugby scribe Mick Cleary, who is their chief rugby writer, has selected his 40-man squad.

There are a number of notable absentees...

IRELAND - 7

Selected: Robbie Henshaw, Tadhg Furlong, James Ryan, Iain Henderson, Josh van der Flier, Caelan Doris, CJ Stander

Notable absentees: Conor Murray, Johnny Sexton, Jacob Stockdale, Jordan Larmour, Garry Ringrose, Peter O'Mahony, Bundee Aki, Luke McGrath

ENGLAND - 18

Selected: Anthony Watson, Elliot Daly, Jonny May, Jack Nowell, Manu Tuilagi, Henry Slade, Owen Farrell, Ellis Genge, Mako Vunipola, Kyle Sinckler, Jamie George, Luke Cowan-Dickie, Maro Itoje (vice-captain), Joe Launchbury, Courtney Lawes, Tom Curry, Sam Underhill, Billy Vunipola

Notable absentees: Joe Cokanasiga, Joe Marler, Ben Youngs

SCOTLAND - 5

Selected: Stuart Hogg, Finn Russell, Rory Sutherland, Jamie Ritchie, Hamish Watson

Notable absentees: Zander Fagerson, Stuart McInally, Jonny Gray, Ali Price, Sam Johnson, Blair Kinghorn

WALES - 10

Selected: George North, Liam Williams, Jonathan Davies, Dan Biggar, Tomos Williams, Gareth Davies, Rhys Webb, Ken Owens, Alun Wyn Jones (capt), Justin Tipuric

Notable absentees: Josh Adams, Josh Navidi, Cory Hill, Aaron Wainwright, Louis Rees-Zammit, Leigh Halfpenny