Advertisement
By Jeremy Inson
With the 2025 Guinness Men’s Six Nations over, British and Lions head coach Andy Farrell will now begin the process of whittling down the best of England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales for his final squad, which will be announced at London’s O2 Arena on Thursday 8 May.
ATR presents three players who have put their hand up for selection, and three who have slipped down the pecking order.
READY TO ROAR
Tommy Freeman
A quietly impressive performance across the tournament, best summed up with five tries from five matches. He also made eight linebreaks and carried for 331.5 metres.
His demonstrated his ability to play centre too, with a strong showing against Wales, and there are few things Lions coaches love more than players who can cover multiple positions.
Blair Murray
Wales’s fullback might have wondered when the waves of attack would end, but he looked impressive on the counter-attack and only Luke Cowan-Dickie’s tap-tackle stopped a memorable try against England.
Across the tournament he carried 42 times for 301metres gained. He has strong competition in Hugo Keenan and Blair Kinghorn, but he certainly put his hand up for consideration.
Jamie Ritchie
Backrow is probably the most populated position but Ritchie, like Murray, has stated his case.
His usual breakdown work was strong, and he made the most steals with seven.
In the Scot’s advantage he is a true six, rather than a seven on the blindside as many of his rivals are.
The 28-year-old is also a lineout threat, with 16 takes across the tournament.
SLIPPING DOWN
Tommy Reffell
The Wales man is likely to suffer from the surfeit of players who can play open-side flanker, not least his international captain Jac Morgan.
Add in England’s Ben and Tom Curry, Ben Earl and Ireland’s Josh Van Der Flier and it is a mammoth task to be selected.
His 48 tackles were less than Earl, Ben Curry, and Josh Van Der Flier, while Morgan and Taulupe Faletau Morgan carried more.
Henry Slade
For anyone who remembers his silky running at outside-centre, seeing him labour at inside-centre has been tough to watch.
Eddie Jones also tried him there but quickly dropped the experiment.
Now Steve Borthwick has Ollie Lawrence as first choice 13, and Fraser Dingwell improved England’s backline when he started at 12 for the final two matches.
Sam Prendergast
Having been handed Ireland’s number 10 shirt, the 22-year-old didn’t quite live up to the hype. He finished with 44 points and two assists, but Ireland needed Jack Crawley to come on and take control against England, and he appeared overawed against France.
Finn Russell appears nailed-on to go, and Prendergast has watched Finn Smith pass him by with impressive performances for England. He is now in a fight with Marcus Smith and George Ford for the third fly-half berth, where once he appeared set to challenge Russell as first-choice.