‘I’m not delusional’ – Courtney Lawes issues come-and-get-me plea to Andy Farrell ahead of British and Irish Lions tour
Courtney Lawes has issued a come-and-get-me plea to Andy Farrell ahead of British and Irish Lions tour.
Courtney Lawes has told Andy Farrell he “100 per cent” believes he can play his way into the British and Irish Lions Test team.
The former England captain is more than a year into international retirement and playing second-division rugby for Brive in France.
“I’d love to go!”
Yet he is bullish about his ability to still cut it at the highest level and, in response to Lions coaches confirming last week they will be considering France-based players, has sent a come-and-get-me plea to tour boss Farrell.
“I 100 per cent could do it if I got called up, if I got my foot in the door,” the 105-cap Red Rose forward said. “I’d be pretty confident I could play myself into the Test XV, for sure.
“I’d love to go out there prove myself again and flipping go for it. Why the hell not, do you know what I mean? I thoroughly believe I can do it, yeah.”
This is not the first time Lawes has thrown his hat into the ring ahead of the May 8 squad announcement, at the O2 in London, but it is his most forthright insistence that Farrell would not be taking a risk in selecting him.
“I know it’s a different league out here, different level,” Lawes told former Wales and Lions fly-half Dan Biggar on the latest episode of his A Load of BS On Sport podcast. “But with that comes difficulty with playing.
“It’s much less organised. The opposition is less organised but also my team is less organised. It makes things more difficult. It’s made me have to adapt my game. I have to be much more reactive, because things happen on a dime here.
“Out here you have to be incredibly clean because a lot of the reffing decisions, especially away from home, will not go your way.
“So there’s always things to adapt and develop and with my game, my responsibilities with this team, I’m ball carrying a lot more, which I love.
“I didn’t get as much of it last season because a lot of the time I’d be held on the width as the blindside flanker. Here, I’m actually playing seven, tight head flanker basically, so getting a lot more ball carrying.
“I’m getting back to really high levels [of ball carrying]. I’ve got most turnovers in the league at the minute and generally I feel I’m playing pretty well.”
“I’m not delusional”
Under the captaincy of Lawes, in his first season in France after leading Northampton to Premiership glory last June, Brive have risen to second place in the table behind leaders Grenoble with six rounds to go.
The league winners are automatically promoted. The team that finishes second face a play-off against the 13th placed side in the Top-14. But that would still leave a week before the Lions play their warm-up match against Argentina in Dublin.
“It may be the case that I get called up [by the Lions] and I’m proven wrong. I’m not delusional about it, but I’m pretty confident that if I did get the opportunity, I could still perform.”
Asked by Biggar what for him makes the Lions so special, Lawes said it is the concept of the best of the best from four nations coming together and gelling in such a short period of time.
“The only reason it works is because of the quality of players you have on the team,” he added. “I remember the first training session we had in New Zealand [in 2017] with all the boys. I was like ‘flippin’ heck!’
“It’s the quality of the players. The calls, everything, is just so quick. Things get picked up so quickly, adapted or interpreted, and taken to the next level.
“You really are playing with the best players on this side of the planet. That is the reason it really does work. It’s an amazing experience.
The latest episode of Dan Biggar’s podcast, A Load of BS on Sport, is out now.
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