Rugby

Saracens prop faces a challenge to make the Lions front row but the shock pick is not daunted

Evening Standard

Matt Stevens laughs at the idea his selection for the Lions was due to Warren Gatland needing the prop to bring a club feel to the squad in Australia.

As we meet at the Saracens training ground, the 30-year-old, who was runner-up in the The X Factor: Battle of the Stars in 2006, says: “I like the social activities [of the tour] but it’s more about enjoying each other’s company.

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Evening Standard

Brian Barwick may seem an unlikely Rugby Football League chairman. His life has been all about the round ball game; a former editor of Match of the Day and chief executive of the Football Association, he grew up in the 60s singing You’ll Never Walk Alone while Bill Shankly made Anfield a feared name in English football.

But as we meet in his office in Twickenham, he is keen to talk about his new dream of the climax of this November’s Rugby League World Cup Final at Old Trafford. Pointing to a huge picture on the wall of Jonny Wilkinson about to score the drop goal that won England the union equivalent in 2003, Barwick says: “Ten years ago I was in Sydney to see him land that kick. If Kevin Sinfield [the England captain] lands the same sort of kick at the same time, it will have the same impact.”

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Evening Standard

Warren Gatland will not make the same mistakes as Sir Clive Woodward when he leads the Lions this summer.

Sir Clive’s touring team crashed 3-0 to New Zealand in 2005 but it was not just on the pitch there were problems for England’s World Cup-winning head coach.

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Head coach warns that ‘circus’ surrounding Red Rose squad could limit his thinking regarding which men he will take Down Under this summer

Evening Standard

Warren Gatland limps in to meet me at a hotel in Cardiff. He is still nursing the ankles he broke falling from a ¬ladder while cleaning the windows of his beach house in Waihi in New Zealand last April.

But, while his footsteps are hesitant, the mind of the head coach, who will take the Lions to Australia in June, is crystal clear. He knows all about the potential problems of picking too many Englishmen for the three-Test tour.

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New Zealand-born prop of Tongan origin is having too much fun with the Red Rose to worry about questions over his background

Evening Standard

Mako Vunipola cannot understand why anybody should question his right to play for England.

The Saracens prop could have followed his father, Fe’ao, and six uncles and played for Tonga. He could also have chosen the world’s best team, the All Blacks, as he was born in Wellington. And Wales were another option as he came to the principality as an eight-year-old after his dad joined Pontypool. So why the Red Rose?

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