Scotland star Jamie Ritchie sure he ‘did all he could’ to secure Lions selection

Scotland back-rower Jamie Ritchie insists he is comfortable with the feeling that he did everything he possibly could to put himself in with “a real shout” for British and Irish Lions selection.

The 28-year-old Edinburgh forward was disappointed not to be included in Andy Farrell’s squad for the summer tour of Australia after bouncing back strongly this season from a tough start to 2024 when he lost the Scotland captaincy.

Speaking for the first time since his Lions snub three weeks ago, Ritchie told the BBC’s Scotland Rugby Podcast: “Personally, I feel like I’d done all I could in terms of how I performed and stuff, so I was comfortable with that.

“At the end of the day, it’s down to someone’s opinion and decision-making and what they feel they need in their squad. At that point, it’s outside of my control. For 2021, I feel like I was further away than I was this year, but I was more upset then.

“I’m a bit more mature now in terms of how I react to these things. Obviously, it would have been nice to have that moment, but I’m comfortable with the performances that I’ve put in to put myself in the mix. I said this to my wife because she was quite upset when we watched it together.

“I said to her, if you look at the position we were in a year ago after Six Nations, where it hadn’t gone the way I wanted to in terms of selection and missing out on the captaincy and humming and hawing about whether or not I was going to go on the summer tour, if we’d said we’d be sitting here at the Lions announcement day, feeling like we were in with a real shout and then disappointed when it didn’t happen, we would absolutely have taken it.

“That’s the perspective that I’m taking on at the moment. I felt like I did all I could. The call didn’t come, and that’s OK.”

Asked if he had been given any indication that he might be on a standby list, Ritchie said: “I spoke to JD (Lions and Scotland coach John Dalziel) afterwards around some of the thinkings around selection.

“I’ve not heard about anything official, but I’m just trying to stay fit and concentrating on playing well for Edinburgh.”

Scotland co-captain Rory Darge was in similarly philosophical mood to Ritchie over his own Lions snub, with the 25-year-old Glasgow flanker intent on using it as a “motivator” to earn future inclusion.

“I know how much I put into this game and how much I put into preparing and going out and playing and putting my body through, so why should other people get to experience that?” said Darge, speaking on the same podcast. “And I’m not saying that from a negative point of view, it’s purely a positive point of view.

“I was delighted for the guys that are involved and it just was a bit of a motivator for me, really, and something to aspire to.

“You have to have that initial bit where you are gutted and you’re like, ‘why can’t I be involved in that?’ But then, really quickly you’re able to be like, that’s something to aspire to, that’s something to hopefully one day be a part of.”