England World Cup winner Will Greenwood has picked Wales debutant Willis Halaholo at centre over Owen Farrell for his Lions team.
Cardiff Blues midfielder Halaholo, 30, made a strong debut off the bench against Scotland last weekend, playing a crucial role in Wales' 25-24 win and playing a part in three of Wales' four tries.
It was a long-awaited debut for the New Zealand-born player, who is qualified to represent Wales on residency grounds. He was called into Wayne Pivac's first squad in 2019 before injury ruled him out.
His efforts at Murrayfield were so strong that England World Cup winner Will Greenwood has selected Halaholo at No. 12 over England skipper Owen Farrell.
The TV pundit and rugby journalist has chosen his team for the British and Irish Lions based on the second round of the Six Nations.
Writing in the Telegraph, he said: "What an impact Halaholo made when he came on after 33 minutes.
"Strong in contact all day, he had a major say in Liam Williams’ try and also sucked in two for Rees-Zammit’s second. When Halaholo came on it was 17-3 to Scotland. So Wales won 22-7 with him on the pitch.
"James Lang was okay, Robbie Henshaw was strong again, Owen Farrell kicked well. But for me Halaholo nicks the jersey."
Three other Wales stars make it into Greenwood's Lions team, including Wales v Ireland man of the match Wyn Jones, who was "all over the park" against the Scots.
"Jones is a great ball handler", Greenwood said. "He looks the real deal at the moment."
It would be hard to omit Wales winger Louis Rees-Zammit from a team of the weekend, given his two dazzling tries and man-of-the-match performance.
"Rees-Zammit was the match winner for Wales. As Bryan Habana, Jonny May, Makazole Mapimpi and others have shown, there is no substitute for pace. And LRZ has it by the bucketload."
Finally, Wales flanker Justin Tipuric is the other man in red to make it into Greenwood's team.
Described as a "magnificent rugby player", Greenwood believes Tipuric is the pick of a competitive bunch when it comes to the No. 7 jersey.
"There are really strong 7s in this tournament from a Lions perspective. But Tipuric is in such good form. If he was a cricketer he would be seeing it like a football right now. If he was a golfer he would be seeing the hole like a bucket."
