For any British & Irish Lions hopefuls, the final rehearsals have begun according to three-time tourist Will Greenwood.
We are now just seven months away from the 2025 British & Irish Lions Tour of Australia, with Andy Farrell installed as Head Coach and the jersey unveiled this week.
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The Autumn Nations Series gives players from across the home nations to show what they can do against the best of the southern hemisphere, as they look to impress Farrell before squad selection.
Greenwood, the last uncapped player to be selected for a Tour – in South Africa in 1997 – before touring Australia and New Zealand in 2001 and 2005, feels laying down a marker this November could make all the difference.
He explained: “Each international player doesn’t have nine final trials, but Andy Farrell is watching every single game. If he’s taking 35, he probably has an idea of 25 already and wants to see those 25 perform well.
“There are maybe 10 slots open, you might say 15, it would be like a squash ladder where you get moved up and down.
“If you have a shocker under pressure in one of these games, there are still more chances because of the Six Nations, but you risk a, him putting a black mark against you, and b, getting dropped from your national team, in which case, you’re knackered.
“You’re always being watched. If you make a bad decision, you might only have had to make one pressure decision all game and it was the wrong one.
“You’ve got eight final trials, nine final trials. Is it harder to get dropped with one terrible performance or picked with one good one? It’s not in isolation, but it doesn’t help.”
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This weekend sees all four home nations in action, following England’s narrow loss to New Zealand and Scotland’s big win over Fiji.
It kicks off on Friday night as Ireland host the All Blacks, while Steve Borthwick’s side will look to bounce back against the Wallabies – the first of four matches for Australia against the home nations ahead of next year’s Tour.
Then on Sunday, Wales play host to Fiji and Scotland host the world champions, South Africa.
Greenwood will be keeping a particularly close eye on proceedings in Twickenham, with Borthwick having switched his centre pairing as Henry Slade moves to inside centre with Ollie Lawrence shifting to outside.
And while there is no shortage of competition in the midfield, Greenwood believes it is a big opportunity for both Slade and Lawrence to stake a claim.
He added: “It’s interesting they have changed the numbers, it will be interesting to see whether one defends 12. The reality now with 12 and 13, they are interchangeable. I’ve not lost a load of sleep analysing why they have changed from 12 to 13.
“I’ve thought Henry should have been inside centre about five years ago. The left foot, right foot option, the second playmaker, the second fly-half, the interchangeability of sliding to 13 when you want to run a hard play in the press and you bring Lawrence in to do that. I’m keener for Henry to be closer to the ball.
“(Garry) Ringrose, (Bundee) Aki, (Sione) Tuipulotu, (Huw) Jones, (Ollie) Lawrence himself. I think Henry will think ‘I really need to be on this one’. He needs England to perform well, he needs them to beat Scotland at home, get one over Tuipulotu and Jones (in the Six Nations).
“You identify individual games. You could be on the end of a beaten team in Dublin and not lose your Lions jersey.
“If England lose at Twickenham again to Scotland, that sees four more Scots in. They are the seven swing states in the American elections. That England-Scotland game at Twickenham is huge.”
