Lions Watch: Six Players Who Stood Out This Weekend
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The second week of European Rugby saw some fantastic rugby being played with the PRO14 and Premiership producing some stellar entertainment.
In a new Ultimate Rugby weekly feature, we take a look at five or more players who stood out over the weekend's European action and how it could enhance their chances of making the tour to South Africa next year.
Last week, the likes of Joe Marchant, Tom Curry, Stuart Hogg, George Ford, Maro Itoje and Jack Willis stood out and earned a mention.
This week, we got more of insight to some of the player's Warren Gatland may be looking into with rugby returning in Scotland, Ireland and Wales.
Sam Underhill - Bath
Tom Curry, Justin Tipuric, Hamish Watson, Billy Vunipola, Taulupe Faletau and others dominate the conversion for the Lions back row while Sam Underhill flies under the radar producing stellar performances.
Underhill's form won't go unnoticed by Eddie Jones and Warren Gatland even if it was against young Leicester Tigers side. The Bath openside featured in our Premiership Team of the Week after he clattered the Tiger's defenders backwards on 21 occasions and won a turnover.
Warren Gatland was a raft of back rowers to pick from come the Lions Tour next year but don't be too surprised if the hard hitting flanker finds a place on the plane.
Steff Evans - Scarlets
All the talk before the Scarlets return to action was the return of Liam Williams to the Scarlets but on Saturday Steff Evans quickly reminded the Scarlets' faithful what he is capable of.
Sporting an excellent mullet, Evans dotted down twice in the Scarlets 32-12 victory over the Cardiff Blues on Saturday.
Mullet man @steffevs09 had some game against the Cardiff Blues 👏👏 pic.twitter.com/gzxU0f6rkJ
— Ultimate Rugby (@ultimaterugby) August 24, 2020
Gatland will know what Evans is capable of having handed the 25-year-old his test debut while he was Wales' head coach but this weekend, Evans looked back to some of his best form.
The Scarlets' finisher fell out of favour with the national selectors and if he can convince Wayne Pivac to give him a go in the test squad, who knows what could happen from there?
CJ Stander - Munster
The Irish derby on Saturday was close to test level in terms of the collisions and brutality as Leinster edged Munster at the Aviva.
Despite being on the losing end of the result, CJ Stander put in a performance that was hard to miss.
The 30-year-old Irish international quickly adapted to the new breakdown interpretations grabbing five turnovers - more than any other player this weekend across the PRO14 and Premiership.
Stander was in incredible form for Ireland during the Six Nations earlier this year and quickly picked up from where he left off from with his trademark powerful carries and thumping tackles.
The Munster loose forward could well head to his country of birth next year to represent the Lions on his second tour.
Adam Hastings - Glasgow Warriors
Glasgow fell 30-15 to Edinburgh on Saturday but it was hard to ignore Adam Hastings despite being on the losing end of the result.
The Scotland International is often overshadowed by Finn Russell but he was showing signs of just how good he is for Scotland during the Six Nations.
He kicked well on Saturday scored a try and had the Glasgow backs ticking over at times. Edinburgh were better up front than their rivals and one has to wonder what Hastings could do with a Lions pack in front of him.
Garry Ringrose - Leinster
The 25-year-old centre was superb on Saturday in Leinster's victory making over 70 running metres beating four defenders and scored a try.
Ringrose has stiff competition in the Ireland midfield but his form over the weekend doing his efforts no harm.
If he is able to cement his place in the starting XV, Ringrose could well make the trip to South Africa.
Ben Obano - Bath
Ben Obano is yet to make his mark on the test arena with the Bath loosehead having long been tipped to make his debut having been called up a number of times into Eddie Jones' squad with injuries often denying him a test debut.
Obano impressed for a second week in a row with his two appearances since the return of the Premiership coming via the bench. He was dominant in the scrums and effective both on attack and defence making 10 tackles, 12 metres from three carries and scored a try.
Kyle Sinckler made his test debut a year before the Lions tour in 2017 and Obano could well follow suit if he is able to remain fit and build on his form.
