GarryRingrose

It’s third time lucky for Ireland’s Garry Ringrose, who has been selected for his first Lions Tour after two painful near-misses.

The Ireland centre burst onto the international scene during the 2016 Autumn Internationals and his form was so hot leading into the 2017 Lions Tour to New Zealand, that many expected him to be picked.

Instead, he narrowly missed out but Head Coach Warren Gatland name-checked the then-22-year-old as a Lion for the future. Ringrose was placed on a reserve list of players but was ultimately not required.

Fast-forward four years and the centre was in his prime. At 26, he had helped Ireland win the 2018 Six Nations – and Grand Slam to boot – plus one Champions Cup and four Pro14 titles with club side Leinster.

However, his form dipped in 2021 and he narrowly missed out on the Lions Tour, with international teammates Robbie Henshaw and Bundee Aki picked instead for the series in South Africa.

Now, aged 29, Ringrose will earn his first Lions jersey and tick another box in a fabulous career that has seen him consistently among the finest centres in the Northern Hemisphere for the past decade.

Ringrose first emerged on the radar at the 2014 Junior World Cup, where he scored two tries as Ireland reached the semi-finals, while he was nominated for the four-man shortlist for World Rugby Young Player of the Year.

He broke into the Leinster team a year later, and then 12 months after that was first picked for Ireland. He was on the bench for their famous win against New Zealand in Chicago and made his Test debut a week later.

Ringrose captained Leinster in the 2020 Pro 14 final, where they beat Ulster, and in 2023 was made a co-captain alongside James Ryan.

Backing up that 2018 Grand Slam, Ringrose has won two more Six Nations titles in this four-year cycle, including the 2023 Grand Slam.