Midfield juggernaut Jamie Roberts has named a British & Irish Lions starting XV to take on the Springboks in South Africa.
Roberts made 94 appearances for Wales between 2008 and 2017 before jetting south in 2020 to anchor the Stormers backline.
The 2020 season was cut short by the national lockdown and Roberts headed back to Wales, joining the Dragons in Newport, after making just six appearances for the Cape side.
Roberts, who also earned three caps for the Lions on their 2009 tour to South Africa and the 2013 trip to Australia, named his preferred starting lineup on ruck.co.uk.
Unsurprisingly, the run-on team features seven Welshman, four from Ireland and two each from Scotland and England, though there is no place for 20-year-old Wales prodigy, Louis Rees-Zammit.
England lock Maro Itoje misses out as the tight five comprises players from Wales and Ireland alone and there’s also no place for any of the halfback options from England, including Owen Farrell, George Ford and Ben Youngs, as Ireland scrumhalf Conor Murray and Wales flyhalf Dan Biggar get the nod.
‘Bigger’ is a good word to describe Roberts’ centre combination – the 34-year-old handed the No12 jersey to Ireland’s Robbie Henshaw (1.91m, 103kgs) and paired him with George North (1.93m, 105kgs) in a powerful centre combination supported by a back three of Josh Adams, Anthony Watson and Stuart Hogg.
Jamie Roberts’ Lions XV:
15 Stuart Hogg (Scotland)
14 Anthony Watson (England)
13 George North (Wales)
12 Robbie Henshaw (Ireland)
11 Josh Adams (Wales)
10 Dan Biggar (Wales)
9 Conor Murray (Ireland)
8 Taulupe Faletau (Wales)
7 Tom Curry (England)
6 Hamish Watson (Scotland)
5 Tadhg Beirne (Ireland)
4 Alun Wyn Jones (Wales)
3 Tadhg Furlong (Ireland)
2 Ken Owens (Wales)
1 Wyn Jones (Wales)
