Garry Ringrose was heavily tipped to make the British & Irish Lions squad after an excellent season for Leinster and Ireland.
It was not to be.
Not long after Warren Gatland chose the likes of Ben Te'o and Jared Payne ahead of him, Ringrose went out and tore Clermont apart with a super Champions Cup score. Too brilliant, too late.
Gatland mentioned Ringrose more than once as a player highly unfortunate to miss out. For his part, Ringrose stayed humble - wishing his Ireland teammates all the best and looking ahead to Ireland's end-of-season tout to America and Japan.
Ringrose has scored international tries number three and four this summer and, despite the meekness of the opposition, has looked every inch a Lion. He's even knocking over conversions and roughing up coach Ronan O'Gara in training:
https://twitter.com/SportsJOEdotie/status/875619222499475460
Against Japan, today, Ringrose got the tryscoring party started with a brilliant pounce and breakaway [below].
But that was just the start - all afternoon, in sheer, sweltering humidity - Ringrose ran hard, tackled hard and was like an extra, effective loose forward at the breakdown. He made 74 metres off 16 carries, most of them getting over the gainline, landed five big tackles and secured a turnover.
8,893 kilometres away, the Lions were preparing to face New Zealand in the First Test. Ringrose did not make the 2017 squad but there are still three games to go. And there's always 2021 and 2025 too. We wouldn't put 2029 past him either.
https://twitter.com/eirSport/status/878501918032748544
An impressive season from Ringrose.
