The Lions has always been bubbling in the background of this year's Six Nations, and now that the tournament is over, it will come into ever-sharper focus. The end of the competition has led to a flood of lions team selections across various media outlets, with the RTE panel including four Irish internationals in their starting side against the All Blacks.
There are plenty of teams picked across the papers today, too, and we've decided to aggregate the selections. In the event of players receiving the same number of picks, we'll include them both. The teams have been picked by Jim Glennon, Bernard Jackman, Brendan Fanning, Neil Francis, Stephen Jones, Lawrence Dallaglio, Stuart Barnes, and Peter O'Reily.
Full-Back
Stuart Hogg is the main man here, picked by six of the eight writers. Those who went against the grain are Peter O'Reily, who went with Liam Williams, and Stephen Jones, who upheld his wavering support for Rob Kearney.
Wingers
George North is included in all eight teams, a remarkable turnaround for a man whose selection against Ireland was questioned by Welsh supporters. Anthony Watson and Elliot Daly are the next most popular, each with three picks. Liam and Scott Williams made an appearance each.
Centres
An English clean sweep: Owen Farrell and Jonathan Joseph the heavy favourites, with a couple of votes for Scott William a single call for Robbie Henshaw.
Out-half
Seven out of eight go with Johnny Sexton, Stephen Jones the outlier to nobody's surprise. ( He picks Owen Farrell).
Scrum-half
Once again, seven out of eight choose Conor Murray. The outlier? It's Jones, who selects Rhys Webb.
Number 8
No doubt here: all eight go with English wrecking ball, Billy Vunipola.
Flankers
Lots of different selections here: Sam Warbuton, Maro Itoje and Justin Tipuric all get four votes, while Sean O'Brien gets three. CJ Stander gets Jim Glennon's vote.
Second rows
Alun Wyn-Jones the most popular choice here, with six picks. Itoje and Joe Launchbury each get four, with one each for Richie Gray (Bernard Jackman) and Courtney Lawes (Stephen Jones).
Props
At loosehead, it's a tie between Ireland's Jack McGrath and England's Mako Vunipola. On the other side, Tadgh Furlong gets seven picks, with Neil Francis' choice of Dan Cole the only deviation.
Hooker
Jamie George is preferred to his England captain Dylan Hartley, with four picks to two. Hartley got as many picks as Wales' Ken Owens, with poor Rory Best nowhere to be seen.
The full team
15 - Stuart Hogg
14 - George North
13 - Jonathan Joseph
12 - Owen Farrell
11 - Anthony Watson/Elliot Daly
10 - Johnny Sexton
9 - Conor Murray
1 - Mako Vunipola/Jack McGrath
2 - Jamie George
3 - Tadgh Furlong
4 - Alun Wyn Jones
5 - Maro Itoje/Joe Launchbury
6 - Justin Tipuric/Maro Itoje
7 - Sam Warburton
8 - Billy Vunipola
See Also: The English Media Reaction To Ireland's Grand Slam-Destroying Performance
