Warren Gatland has revealed he will only take 36 players on the British and Irish Lions tour to take on the world champion Springboks, with the head coach set to make a sizeable cut to his squad size because of the reduced schedule.
“We’re probably looking at 35 or 36 players,” he said. “Maybe a 20-15 split (forwards to backs) or a 20-16 split. In doing that, we’ll probably name a standby squad.
“Because we don’t have a game before the first Test, which has been a real pressure in the past because you’re trying to protect your Lions matchday 23, that makes it a heck of a lot easier in terms of preparation for the first Test week.”
We thought it would be interesting to see how the reduced size squad might look based on the favourites to make the tour, according to Betfair.
BACK-THREE (6)
- Josh Adams (Wales) – 1/10
- Jonny May (England) – 1/10
- Stuart Hogg (Scotland) – 4/11
- Anthony Watson (England) – 4/7
- Liam Williams (Wales) – 4/6
- Elliot Daly (England) – 8/11
CENTRES (4)
- Jonathan Davies (Wales) – 2/5
- Manu Tuilagi (England) – 1/2
- Garry Ringrose (Ireland) – 1/2
- Henry Slade (England) – 4/6
FLY-HALVES (3)
- Owen Farrell (England) -1/20
- Johnny Sexton (Ireland) – 8/11
- Finn Russell (Scotland) – 10/11
