Lions Stocks | How the Waratahs game affects things

This has been one of the hardest 'Lions Stocks' to write because of the largely sub par performance but the British & Irish Lions against the Waratahs. One thing is for sure, Andy Farrell has a number of players who's stocks rose by not playing. Here we focus on the XV that started and give our verdict.

Stocks Rising:

Scott Cummings: A really good performance from the Scottish lock. He was great at line out time and around the park on both sides of the ball. He could have moved into bench contention for the opening test.

Ben Earl: Solid performance and with Pollock an injury worry he may get the nod over Curry 

Alex Mitchell: Man of the Match and very likely to feature in the first test

Josh vd Flier: Butchered a try but as usual holds up the defensive end for himself and another it seems

Stocks Falling:

Luke Cowan-Dickie: Not a great performance but not bad enough to be out of the running for the first game against the Wallabies

James Ryan: Quiet today and over shadowed by Cummings in the locks

Fin Smith: Could well have played himself out of contention for the big show in a couple of weeks

Mack Hansen: Not a great game as he struggled to get in the mix, likely cements Freeman as the test starter

Hugo Keenan: Only time can tell whether Farrell thinks Keenan can have another chance at trying to get a test spot

Sione Tuipulotu: Stock fell ever so slightly as he was unable to really get a foothold in the game

Stocks Unmoved:

Pierre Schoeman & Finaly Bealham: Scrums 100% which is a bonus but neither really thrust their hand in the air

Tadhg Beirne: We thought that a test start at flank would be a certain but Chessum may get a look in ahead of the Munster legend

Huw Jones: Solid game, great attacking play as always

Blair Kinghorn: Quiet and probably needs another run but it must be at 15