Scotland captaincy eases pain for Ritchie

SCOTLAND flanker Jamie Ritchie aims to channel his anguish at missing out on the British & Irish Lions tour by leading from the front as he prepares to captain his country for the first time.

- BRYN PALMER

The Edinburgh backrower was left out as clubmates Hamish Watson, Rory Sutherland and Duhan van der Merwe were among eight Scots named in the Lions party for the South Africa trip.

Ritchie, 24, was on a long-list of players to receive an email about his availability, but was ultimately overlooked in favour of other blind-side options in Ireland’s Tadhg Beirne and Iain Henderson and England’s Courtney Lawes.

“Leading up to that I just thought it was nice to be in the mix; it was pretty cool to get the email and have people chatting about you,” he recalled.

“But as the day grew closer and closer, I started to think, ‘I really want to go’. Then on the day a few names came up, but I wasn’t picked. I was really disappointed.”

Ritchie spoke to Scotland head coach Gregor Townsend and defence coach Steve Tandy, both members of the Lions staff involved in the selection, about his omission.

There was solace of sorts in their feedback – it is safe to assume he will be a prime contender for a call-up if any of the chosen flankers suffer injury – plus an unexpected invitation from Townsend.