Eight of the best from Scotland. Tour caps a great year for Wright

yesterday as one of eight Scots in the Lions' squad for the tour to New

Zealand.

Only seven weeks ago Wright was drafted back into international rugby

out of position as Scotland's loose head against France at Parc des

Princes. His two previous caps had been at tight head against the

Wallabies on Scotland's Australian tour last year, but he adjusted so

well to playing on the left of the front row that he was untroubled by

those set against him by France, Wales, and England.

It is a natural delight to Wright that he and a fellow Scot, Paul

Burnell, are the Lions' two tight-head props. Together they have kept

out Hugh Williams-Jones and Jeff Probyn, the respective Welsh and

English tight heads who played against Wright.

Nor is this year notable in the Wright calendar only for his rugby

achievements. On April 24, less than a month before he leaves for New

Zealand, he will marry his long-time girlfriend, Audrey Gray.

All of the Scottish pack's front five -- Kenny Milne, Andy Reed, and

Damian Cronin as well as the two props -- are in the 30-strong squad. So

are three backs, Gavin and Scott Hastings, and Gary Armstrong, all of

whom toured with the 1989 Lions who won the Test series

2-1 against Australia.

Gavin Hastings -- who follows a fellow Scot, Finlay Calder, as the

Lions' captain -- is to lead a squad comprising 16 Englishmen, four

Welshmen, and two Irish forwards, Mick Galwey and Nick Popplewell, as

well as the Scots. Not since 1977, when 16 Welshmen toured New Zealand,

have so many players from one country been with the Lions.

Reed, like Wright, is an example of how one can come through to the

pinnacle of rugby achievement in a few weeks. The 23-year-old Bath lock

was introduced to international rugby only in January, but such has been

his lineout liaison with Cronin and Doddie Weir that Scotland have

enjoyed a season of greater touchline success than they have had for

many a year.

Weir, the Melrose forward who switched from lock to No.8 this season,

has missed out. So have Scotland's two current flankers, Derek Turnbull

and Iain Morrison. Instead, the Lions have opted for a breakaway sixsome

including four Englishmen -- the current trio plus Dean Richards, who

had been discarded by his country's selectors because he was one-paced.

That is a disappointment for Scottish rugby as counter-balance to the

pleasures elsewhere, and in that area, too, the Lions would seem to be

thin. They have no back-row forward with the pace of one of their

probable Test opponents, Michael Jones.

Peter Winterbottom, the only Lion linking the 1983 tour to New

Zealand, is the one genuine open-side wing forward in the squad. Mike

Teague and Richard Webster are flankers in the blind-side mould, and

Galwey has been named as a utility back-five forward.

Such versatility is useful, as Ian McGeechan, the Lions' coach,

acknowledged. ''We needed some degree of flexibility,'' the coach said,

''and picking Galwey as a No.6 gives us that. We also took into account

New Zealand conditions.''

As another criticism, the omission of Swansea's Robert Jones is

incredible even though he was deposed by Rupert Moon for the Welsh match

in Paris on Saturday. Not since the 1959 tour to New Zealand have the

Lions left these shores without a Welsh scrum half.

Instead, Armstrong's fellow scrum half is another of the English

cabal, Dewi Morris. Yet, at least viewed from afar via the medium of

television, Jones, like his long-standing friend, Armstrong, is a more

capable and complete scrum half than Morris.

No fewer than 13 of England's defeated Dublin team, all bar Jon Webb

and Jeff Probyn, have been included, and they have been augmented by Ian

Hunter, Rob Andrew, and Richards. But Andrew, deposed by Stuart Barnes

as England's stand-off for the international against Scotland earlier

this month, is fortunate to be going on tour. The competition was

reduced when Craig Chalmers, the Melrose and Scotland fly half, broke an

arm at Twickenham 17 days ago, whereas Eric Elwood's introduction by

Ireland has been just too late.

In Elwood's two internationals this month Ireland have won in Cardiff

and beaten England 17-3 in Dublin. The Connacht stand-off has lifted

Irish rugby from despondency, though the euphoria was punctured with the

news of the breakdown of the Lions' 30.

McGeechan, who was coach of the successful Lions in Australia four

years ago, looked ahead to the venture Down Under with enthusiasm. ''The

Lions' tour is an important element in the education of British

players,'' he said. ''It's a personal challenge to keep on improving,

and there is no better benchmark than New Zealand.''

He was a Lion against the All Blacksin 1977, and he has a high regard

for rugby there: ''New Zealand has given me some of my best fixes. I am

a rugby junkie.''

The Lions squad

Full backs -- A G Hastings (Watsonians and Scotland), captain, A

Clement (Swansea and Wales).

Wings -- R Underwood (Leicester and England), T Underwood (Leicester

and England), I G Hunter (Northampton and England), I C Evans (Llanelli

and Wales).

Centres -- W D C Carling (Harlequins and England), J C Guscott (Bath

and England), I S Gibbs (Swansea and Wales), S Hastings (Watsonians and

Scotland).

Stand-offs -- S Barnes (Bath and England), C R Andrew (Wasps and

England).

Scrum halves -- G Armstrong (Jed-Forest and Scotland), C D Morris

(Orrell and England).

Props -- J Leonard (Harlequins and England), N J Popplewell

(Greystones and Ireland), A P Burnell (London Scottish and Scotland), P

H Wright (Boroughmuir and Scotland).

Hookers -- B C Moore (Harlequins and England), K S Milne (Heriot's FP

and Scotland).

Locks -- W A Dooley (Preston Grasshoppers and England), M C Bayfield

(Northampton and England), D F Cronin (London Scottish and Scotland), A

I Reed (Bath and Scotland).

Flankers -- M Galwey (Shannon and Ireland), M C Teague (Moseley and

England), P J Winterbottom (Harlequins and England), R E Webster

(Swansea and Wales).

No.8s -- D Richards (Leicester and England), B B Clarke (Bath and

England).

TOUR ITINERARY

May 22 -- v North Auckland (Whangarei); 26 -- v North Harbour

(Auckland); 29 -- Maoris (Wellington). June 2 -- v Canterbury

(Christchurch); 5 -- v Otago (Dunedin); 8 -- v Southland (Invercargill);

12 -- First Test (Christchurch); 16 -- v Taranaki (New Plymouth); 19 --

v Auckland (Auckland); 22 -- v Hawke's Bay (Napier); 26 -- Second Test

(Wellington); 29 -- v Waikato (Hamilton). July 3 -- Third Test

(Auckland).