The 28-year-old Cardiff Blues and Wales back row forward led the Lions to a first series win in 16 years in Australia in 2013 and was handed the honour once again today when Gatland and tour manager John Spencer announced their 41-strong tour party to tackle the world champions All Blacks.
Only one player has previously led the Lions on successive tours – England’s Martin Johnson in 1997 and 2001. Warburton will be one of 12 Welsh internationals making the trip, and is one of seven Welsh players returning from the 2013 tour, while it will be a third successive tour for Leigh Halfpenny and Alun Wyn Jones.
The 12 Welshmen included in the quad are:
Dan Biggar, Jonathan Davies, Taulupe Faletau, Leigh Halfpenny, Alun Wyn Jones, Ross Moriarty, George North, Ken Owens, Rhys Webb, Justin Tipuric, Sam Warburton (captain), Liam Williams
The 2017 Lions, coached by Warren Gatland, will play 10 matches, including three Tests against the world champions All Blacks. The tour kicks-off at the Toll Stadium, in Whangarei, on 3 June against the New Zealand Provincial Barbarians.
“It’s hard to put into words. The 2013 tour hasn’t really sunk in yet and it was only when I was at the captain’s dinner last night that it really hit home,” said Warburton, who confirmed he will be 100% fit by the time the tour starts.
“I found out last Thursday when Warren phoned me. I cut him off at first because I thought it was one of the Cardiff Blues boys messing around – they’ve been asking me every day or the past three weeks about the captaincy.
“I was sitting in the car outside the supermarket waiting for my wife to buy some bread and milk when Warren called. It is an amazing challenge and an amazing opportunity and it gives me a massive amount of confidence as a captain to be leading this squad.”
Moriarty is perhaps the biggest surprise among the Welsh selections, but earns inclusion after a barnstorming Six Nations campaign and an excellent tour to New Zealand with Wales last summer. There is no third tour for Wales centre Jamie Roberts, but there will be trips back to their homeland for England centre Ben Te’o and Ireland utility back Jared Payne.
Only two of the four captains of the Home Nations teams are included – Alun Wyn Jones (Wales) and Rory Best (Ireland) – and there is no place for the man who led England to a successful defence of their Six Nations crown, Dylan Hartley or Scotland’s Greig Laidlaw. There are two Scots, 12 Welshmen, 16 Englishmen and 11 Irishmen in the tour party.
“Sam’s experience from captaining the team in 2013 means he is the right man for the job. He did a great job on that tour,” said Gatland. “You have to get everything right on a Lions tour, and get a bit of luck, but I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t think we had the ability to go to New Zealand and win.
“There’s been a lot of healthy debate about the squad, but there’s no clear one, two or three in the positions and that’s what makes this exciting. New Zealand will be the toughest tour, and we’re all looking forward to it, and I’ll be saying to the players that the All Blacks may be a wonderful team, but if you put them under pressure they can buckle like any other side.”
The Lions haven’t won a series in New Zealand since John Dawes led the 1971 team to a 2-1 victory with one further game drawn. There were 13 Welshmen involved in that tour, while in 1977, when Phil Bennett led the side to New Zealand, there were 18 Welsh players involved.
The first Welshman to tour with the Lions was Llandovery College, Cambridge University and Llanelli forward Willie Thomas in 1888. The first Welshman to play in a Test match was the Cardiff centre Gwyn Nicholls in Australia in 1899 and the first Welshman to be honoured with the captaincy of the Lions in a Test match was Teddy Morgan, against Australia on 23 July, 1904.
