Shane Williams leaves Louis Rees-Zammit out of his Lions back-three

The three-time British & Irish Lions tourist, 2005 - 2013, didn’t pick a single English or Irish player in his trio.

"With the first test just two weeks away the test team is starting become clear," said Williams in his column for .

"Gatland has an embarrassment of riches to choose from in the back-three with world-class players such as Anthony Watson Josh Adams and Louis Rees-Zammit,

"But this is the three I'd go with right now, although it seems to change from game-to-game."

The 6ft 4in back has made a major impact since arriving in Scotland in 2017, when he joined Guinness PRO14 side Edinburgh after stints in France at Montpellier and South Africa with the Blue Bulls.  He qualified for Scotland through the residency rule and made his Test debut against Georgia in October 2020, where he scored a try in a 48-7 win.  

DID YOU KNOW? Van der Merwe is the younger brother of Akker van der Merwe, also a professional rugby union player who plays at hooker for the Sale Sharks and South Africa.

The 26-year-old has racked up 17 tries in 32 caps since making his Wales bow in 2018 and became the first Welshman to finish as the top try-scorer at a Rugby World Cup. He has been similarly lethal at club level, and while he was a late bloomer on the international stage, there is no question of the threat he poses when he gets hold of the ball.  

Williams was one of the standout performers on the 2017 Tour of New Zealand, starting all three Tests at full-back in the drawn series. Now 30 years old, Williams has 74 caps to his name, including those three for the Lions since earning his first cap for Wales in 2012. 

DID YOU KNOW? A school boy developed by the local Waunarlwydd RFC club, he was not picked up by any of the Welsh regional professional academies, and hence aged 16 started working as a trainee scaffolder at Port Talbot Steelworks, whilst continuing to play for Waunarlwydd