Jac Morgan misses out on Lions selection with Wales now ‘at the bottom'
Just when Welsh rugby thought things couldn't get any worse, British & Irish Lions head coach Andy Farrell has delivered another bruising blow by not including Jac Morgan in his side to face the Brumbies on Wednesday.
Coming on top of an 18th successive defeat in Japan last weekend it means Welsh fans will have nobody to cheer in Canberra as the Lions go into a game on a Test tour to Australia, South Africa or New Zealand without a Welsh player for the first time since 25 July 1899.
You have to go back more than 550 matches to find a Lions team without a Welsh representative. The last time it happened was 126 years ago against New England at the Armidale Racecourse on the fourth tour undertaken by the combined side.
This is the 32nd tour Lions to Australia, New Zealand or South Africa dating back to 1888. There were three tours to Argentina in 1910, 1927 and 1936 organised by the RFU that didn't include any Welsh or Irish players.
There were no Tests played on the inaugural tour to New Zealand and Australia, when the Cambridge Blue and London Welsh back row man Willie Thomas was the sole Welsh representative, and the first seven international matches were played in South Africa in 1891 and 1896 when no Welsh players were considered.
The first opportunity a Welsh player had to play for the Lions in a Test match came in Australia in 1899 when the 'Prince of Wales centres' Gwyn Nicholls was the sole Welsh player. He missed only two of the 21 tour games played in 1899, the last being against New England, and featured in all four Tests.
That started an unbroken run of the Lions having a Welsh starter in each and every one of their 106 Tests played since then.
Will Morgan make it into the first Test matchday 23 next week to continue that run and avoid another unenviable record being broken for Welsh rugby?
Farrell only picked two Welshmen in his tour party and Tomos Williams has already been ruled out of the rest of the tour due to a hamstring injury sustained in scoring his second try against the Western Force.
It is a situation that has left many of Wales great Lions of the past worrying about the future of the game in their own backyard. Three-time tourist Shane Williams believes the national game has it rock bottom.
'We're now in the position in Wales where Scotland have been in recent tours. We aren't a good side at the moment,' said Williams.
'Ireland are at the top of the tree, England are revitalised and Scotland have a crop of exciting players. We have a handful of good players here in Wales, but Andy Farrell wasn't going to want to take players who weren't in the habit of winning games.
'There is nothing worse than playing for a side that is struggling to win week in, week out, and you don't want to risk take that sort of attitude being carried into a Lions team. That's why we've seen so few Welsh players in this Lions squad compared to previous years - it's the result of the poor performances of the national side.
'It's exactly where we are – at the bottom. We need to be looking at what we can do to improve the state of the game in Wales, from the schools all the way up to the national side.'
The last time the Lions played a Test match in Australia 12 years ago, there were 10 Welshmen in the starting XV and another came off the bench.
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