Loosehead prop was a position that had to run very deep on The British & Irish Lions Tour to Australia in 2013.

With Cian Healy and Gethin Jenkins both ruled out before the Test matches with injury, Alex Corbisiero was flown out and made himself a hero – starting the first and third Tests in the historic series win.

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Head Coach Warren Gatland will be hoping his resources are not stretched to the same extent in New Zealand later this year.

But with the squad announcement less than three weeks away, the coffers at loosehead look to run very deep once again.

And in our continuing series of position-by-position pieces – we take a look at the rivals competing for that iconic No1 jersey.

FAST AND LOOSE

Where better to begin our analysis of the loosehead props than by listening to Gatland himself explain what he wants from his front row in New Zealand.

“The first thing I am looking for is the set-piece and getting that right, so for the props that is the scrummage,” he recently told Standard Life Investments.