The squad has been announced and it contains quite a few surprises imo. Some good players have been left behind and some very average or players who are simply not good enough have been given the nod.
Here's the squad...I've underlined a few of the players I think are quite lucky. Some haven't played much lately, others are just a bit crap:
Backs: Leigh Halfpenny (Wales), Stuart Hogg (Scotland), Rob Kearney (Ireland), Tommy Bowe (Ireland), Alex Cuthbert (Wales), Sean Maitland (Scotland), George North (Wales), Jonathan Davies (Wales), Brian O'Driscoll (Ireland), Jamie Roberts (Wales), Manu Tuilagi (England), Owen Farrell (England), Jonathan Sexton (Ireland), Conor Murray (Ireland), Mike Phillips (Wales), Ben Youngs (England).
Forwards: Dan Cole (England), Cian Healy (Ireland), Gethin Jenkins (Wales), Adam Jones (Wales), Matt Stevens (England), Mako Vunipola (England), Dylan Hartley (England), Richard Hibbard (Wales), Tom Youngs (England), Ian Evans (Wales), Richie Gray (Scotland), Alun-Wyn Jones (Wales), Paul O'Connell (Ireland), Geoff Parling (England), Tom Croft (England), Toby Faletau (Wales), Jamie Heaslip (Ireland), Dan Lydiate (Wales), Sean O'Brien (Ireland), Justin Tipuric (Wales), Sam Warburton (Wales).
I can see the merit of selecting both Bowe and Lydiate but neither have played much since coming back from injuries that have kept them off the pitch for a while. Gotta feel for the likes of Robshaw, Wood, Ryan Jones, Best, Biggar/Flood, Launchbury as they're all better players than some selected.
Still think we can win the test series as there's a strong match day squad in it but we may struggle with the midweek games, especially if the Aussie Super Rugby teams select strong teams and I think they most certainly will.
Tbh...I can't wait!!!