The Wales captain missed out on the first Test in Brisbane, but has since made the bench for the Tests in Brisbane and Sydney
British and Irish Lions head coach Andy Farrell says plenty of Welsh fans have shook his hand in the past week since picking Jac Morgan in his Test matchday squad.
The Wales captain missed out on selection for the first Test in Brisbane, but was brought onto the bench for last week’s clash at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. Morgan got off the bench to make his Test debut for the Lions as the tourists completed a dramatic comeback victory to win the series.
And Farrell has kept faith in the Welsh back-row, naming him among the replacements again as the Lions look to complete a series clean sweep in Sydney this Saturday.
Farrell has continually insisted that he would only pick on merit, rejecting the notion that his selection had to offer some sort of representation of the four home nations.
However, after once again naming Morgan in his squad, it was put to the Lions coach that, even with all that, there must be some satisfaction that the sole Welshman in his squad had done enough to ensure all of the home nations were represented.
“I’ve met a good few Welsh since and they are forthright in coming up to me and shaking my hand,” said Farrell. “I’m delighted for Jac.
“He deserves it, and that’s it full stop. How he has performed when he has been put in justifies that.
“And that has to be at the forefront of all of our thinking.”
When asked if Farrell was delighted that a Welsh player had still managed to make the matchday squad, he added: “I cannot get away from what I’ve said the whole time.
“Every single person in our group is exactly that, they’re a Lion. I know we all know where they are from but you’ve got to be true to each individual on merit.
“I still stand by that, it has to be the way.”
In going with a strong selection for the final Test, it does mean that a number of high-profile names ultimately miss out on a Test cap on this tour.
In the back-row alone, the likes of Josh van der Flier and Henry Pollock will head home next week having not featured against the Wallabies.
However, Farrell says that the response of the players not selected has been telling as this current crop look to become the first Lions team to go unbeaten in a Test series for the first time since 1974.
“Well, we all came together from day one and said it’s not just about the squad, the only thing that matters is the squad and that’s it, full stop,” added Farrell. “So we’ve all been in this together from day one.
“Every single one of us, there’s been no separation, we’ve all trained together, it doesn’t matter whether you’ve played the day before or whatever, you’ve always helped the next team that’s going out there and you all know that the modern day game is always about the 23 that take the field, not the 15 anymore, but it’s way beyond that for us.
“It was about the 38 or the 41 or the 44, whichever way you want to look at it.
“It actually touches you. It does. It touches you in the sense of how much it means to them. For example, you come in after such a big victory on Saturday night, and I just left them to it because I couldn’t get a word in.
“You guys know that they weren’t coming in for media because it just felt natural for them to celebrate together. The ones that were celebrating most were the ones who hadn’t put the shirt on. It says it all, to be honest.
“When we met back up on Tuesday and announced the team on Wednesday morning, and you see the same again – people reacting and congratulating each other. You get the type of training session we got yesterday afternoon, it says a lot about the squad.”
