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British & Irish lions squad, fixtures, tickets

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Warren Gatland has been named the British & Irish Lions head coach for the second successive tour taking place in June and July this summer in New Zealand. Rob Howley, Steve Borthwick, and Andy Farrell will be by his side in the upcoming 2017 tour down-under. Gatland has named his 41 man Lion squad that includes 12 Welshmen, while Stuart Hogg and winger Tommy Seymour are the only 2 Scots, there are 16 Englishmen and 11 Irishmen on the squad. The squad consists of 22 forwards and 19 backs. The much anticipated announcement of Gatland’s 41 man side had some surprises including Jared Payne being named, with England captain Dylan Hartley left out. Center Jamie Roberts missed out as well. Wales flanker Sam Warburton is confirmed as captain, while Ross Moriarty is a surprising selection in the back row.

Sam Warburton said it was an easy decision for him to say yes to being Lions captain for the tour of New Zealand, and he accepted straight away when offered the job by head coach Warren Gatland. Gatland explained his decision on Warburton. "Sam is a great player, an outstanding leader and a winning Lions captain,” said Gatland. “We believe that Sam's experience and leadership qualities make him an obvious choice as captain. He has earned the respect of his peers and coaches through his resilience, tenacity and hard work.”

“He’s still a young man in terms of experience. New Zealand picked Richie McCaw at a young age and they stuck with him. Sam found the first few years as captain quite difficult and he grew into the role. That was my objective for Sam. He’s in a confrontational position.”

“I rang Sam last Thursday, to ask him about his injury and left myself a little bit of room to say, how would you respond to being asked about captaining the Lions,” continued Gatland. “I admire him as a person and his greatest quality is that it’s not about him, it’s about the team first. He knows his form has to be good enough. If somebody else is playing better than him, we’ll make that decision. That’s what I like about him as a person. His rapport with referees is outstanding, they love dealing with him. That was one of the factors also. I think it may be easier for him to captain the Lions than Wales. I think he’ll find it easier because of the quality of squad and the other leaders in the team.” 

Warburton talked about his feeling upon being selected again. "I feel humbled and extremely proud to be given the opportunity to captain the Lions for a second Tour and look forward to playing the world champions on their own turf with the best players of the UK and Ireland at my side,” said Warbuton. Joining Warburton and Moriarty on the 2017 British & Irish Lions squad are Dan Biggar, Jonathan Davies, Leigh Halfpenny, George North, Rhys Webb, Liam Williams, Taulupe Faletau, Alun Wyn Jones, Ken Owens. and Justin Tipuric.

The full Lions squad list

Back three
Elliot Daly (England), Leigh Halfpenny (Wales), Stuart Hogg (Scotland), George North (Wales), Jack Nowell (England), Tommy Seymour (Scotland), Anthony Watson (England), Liam Williams (Wales)
Centers
Jonathan Davies (Wales), Owen Farrell (England), Robbie Henshaw (Ireland), Jonathan Joseph (England), Jared Payne (Ireland), Ben Te’o (England)
Fly-halves
Dan Biggar (Wales), Jonathan Sexton (Ireland)
Scrum-halves
Conor Murray (Ireland), Rhys Webb (Wales), Ben Youngs (England)
Props
Dan Cole (England), Tadhg Furlong (Ireland), Joe Marler (England), Jack McGrath (Ireland), Kyle Sinckler (England), Mako Vunipola (England)
Hookers
Rory Best (Ireland), Jamie George (England), Ken Owens (Wales)
Second rows
Iain Henderson (Ireland), Alun Wyn Jones (Wales), George Kruis (England), Courtney Lawes (England), Maro Itoje (England).
Back-rows
Taulupe Faletau (Wales), Ross Moriarty (Wales), Sean O’Brien (Ireland), Peter O’Mahony (Ireland), CJ Stander (Ireland), Justin Tipuric (Wales), Billy Vunipola (England), Sam Warburton (C) (Wales)

Naturally fans voiced their opinions after Lions squad announcement, included Scots fans who only have two players in the 41-man Lions side. Gatland revealed that Sam Warburton’s rapport with referees is one of the reasons why he was chosen to be squad captain. The Lions head coach said England captain Dylan Hartley was one of the unluckiest players not to be included in his squad. On a positive note, Gatland believes Ireland’s win over the All Blacks last year proved the back-to-back World Cup winners have frailties.

Gatland was asked why he has a bigger squad than in 2013. “We’ll talk about stand by players,” said Gatland. “We’ve spoken to some of the coaches in terms of Wales will be in New Zealand, so there’s players available to us. Scotland being in Australia as well. Other two teams are a little bit further away, but we’ve got quite a significant list of players. Initially it was 60 to start with. We’ll look at those who aren’t involved and whether we decide to inform them or not.” Gatland talked about competing against his son Bryn. The Gatlands, Warren and Bryn, will oppose each other in the first game of the Lions tour.

“We have had a few jokes about that,” continued Gatland. “The unfortunate thing is that I think all the family will be supporting him! It’s no different to Owen and Andy Farrell. The beauty is that both him and myself will have played against the Lions, the unfortunate thing is only one of us will have won! It’s great for him that he’s involved. It’s going to be hard for him because he’ll be playing against the Lions and then he’ll be supporting us. I took him to the third test in 2005.” Gatland discussed how thing have changed for the Lions since 2005. “There’s no doubt that after 2005 there was speculation about the Lions continuing,” added Gatland. “The motivation for us in 2009 was to get some respect back in the jersey. It was a paramount objective. We were disappointed we didn’t come away winning or drawing the series. We felt we achieved a goal in 2009 and the objective in 2013 was to win and put the Lions back on the map. We’re capable of going and making the brand stronger for the future. The Lions is unique.”

Gatland continued to talk about New Zealand’s strength. “We shouldn’t get on the plane if you don’t think you can beat them,” stated Gatland. “They are human, there are frailties there, the pleasing thing is that a lot of those players can believe. We saw some of those frailties when Ireland beat the All Blacks. You try and communicate that. These are players that can be put under pressure. Andy Farrell has been involved in two teams that have beaten the All Blacks. It’s an incredibly tough tour, no doubt.”

“It’s not just a rugby culture, it’s the culture of a nation,” added Gatland. “I’ve got to be able to communicate that to players and that’ll be part of the biggest challenge. What is coming is going to be players of whatever level seeing this as a once in a lifetime opportunity to play against the Lions. Every game is going to feel like a final. It’ll be incredibly intense. I think the midweek games are going to put us in a great position heading into the Tests. We’ve got to earn some respect from the New Zealand public.” Next Gatland was questioned about Jared Payne’s place on the Lions squad. “I coached Jared Payne when I was coaching Waikato and I didn’t renew his contract,” said Gatland. “He left to go play for Northland, went to the Blues and ended up in Ireland and now he’s a Lion. To see that is outstanding.”

Gatland was asked about his decision to name two Scots and twelve Welshmen. “I didn’t go through the numbers,” replied Gatland. “We put together a group of players in each position that we felt would be in contention. We had a long debate about hookers and I’m sure if we’d picked Dylan Hartley instead of Best, Owens or George, you’d be asking me the same question.

  

BRITISH & IRISH LIONS TICKETS 2017 TOUR

 

How to buy rugby union tickets for the British & Irish Lions Tour

Authentic, legal, rugby union tickets for the three Test series as well as for the games against the Super Rugby teams, Maori All Blacks and New Zealand Provincial Barbarians are available now securely online from the LiveFootballTickets.com! Buy tickets now to support the Lions as they battle for glory and silverware!

British & Irish Lions Tour Schedule, Fixtures, Tickets

Provincial Union XV v British & Irish Lions Tickets 3 Jun 2017 Toll Stadium Whangarei, New Zealand
Blues v British & Irish Lions Tickets British and Irish Lions Tour 7 Jun 2017  Eden Park Auckland, New Zealand
Crusaders v British & Irish Lions Tickets British and Irish Lions Tour 10 Jun 2017 AMI Stadium Christchurch, New Zealand
Highlanders v British & Irish Lions Tickets British and Irish Lions Tour 13 Jun 2017 Forsyth Barr Stadium Dunedin, New Zealand
Maori All Blacks v British & Irish Lions Tickets British and Irish Lions Tour 17 Jun 2017 Rotorua International Stadium Rotorua, New Zealand 
Chiefs v British & Irish Lions Tickets British and Irish Lions Tour 20 Jun 2017 FMG Stadium Waikato Hamilton, New Zealand
New Zealand v British & Irish Lions Tickets British and Irish Lions Tour 24 Jun 2017 13:00 Eden Park Auckland, New Zealand
Hurricanes v British & Irish Lions Tickets British and Irish Lions Tour 27 Jun 2017 Westpac Stadium Wellington, New Zealand
New Zealand v British & Irish Lions Tickets British and Irish Lions Tour 1 Jul 2017 Westpac Stadium Wellington, New Zealand
New Zealand v British & Irish Lions Tickets British and Irish Lions Tour 8 Jul 2017 Eden Park Auckland, New Zealand