Lions.

British and Irish Lions head coach Warren Gatland has shocked us all this morning by naming his 36-man squad to travel to South Africa a full month ahead of schedule.

Gatland wasn’t due to name his squad until May 6 but with everything that has gone on over the last year – we’re all used to the goalposts being moved constantly at this stage.

As for the squad itself, interestingly Gatland has opted to not include a single Irish, English or Scottish player. Instead, he’s gone for a squad filled entirely with Welsh players.

And as for the captaincy, Gatland has gone with Sam Warburton for a third successive tour, despite the fact that he actually retired several years ago.

“Yeah, Sam might not even play seeing as he’s retired, but that hasn’t stopped from picking him as Lions captain before,” Gatland said following the announcement.

“We’ve been very careful in this year’s selection and eventually decided to just pick the entire Welsh team because ultimately they did win the Six Nations in pretty convincing fashion – right?”

“It’s also no easy task facing the World Champions in their backyard and we feel with this selection there’s a much better chance of our opponents getting a red card when we play them. A 14-man Springboks would make life much easier for us.”

2021 British & Irish Lions Squad:

Forwards:

Rhys Carre (Wales)
Wyn Jones (Wales)
Rhodri Jones (Wales)
Elliot Dee (Wales)
Ryan Elias (Wales)
Ken Owens (Wales)
Leon Brown (Wales)
Tomas Francis (Wales)
Dillon Lewis (Wales)
Jake Ball (Wales)
Adam Beard (Wales)
Alun Wyn Jones (Wales)
Will Rowlands (Wales)
Cory Hill (Wales)
Sam Warburton (Wales) (Captain)
Josh Navidi (Wales)
Aaron Wainwright (Wales)
Taulupe Faletau (Wales)
Josh MacLeod (Wales)
Justin Tipuric (Wales)

Backs:

Gareth Davies (Wales)
Tomos Williams (Wales)
Kieran Hardy (Wales)
Dan Biggar (Wales)
Callum Sheedy (Wales)
Jarrod Evans (Wales)
Johnny Williams (Wales)
Jonathan Davies (Wales)
Nick Tompkins (Wales)
Owen Watkin (Wales)
George North (Wales)
Josh Adams (Wales)
Hallam Amos (Wales)
Louis Rees-Zammit (Wales)
Leigh Halfpenny (Wales)
Liam Williams (Wales)

*This was a poor attempt at an April Fool’s Day joke. If you don’t find it funny or even find it offensive – I’m sorry but we can’t help you.