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.
This story is from the June 20, 2021 edition of The Rugby Paper.
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This story is from the June 20, 2021 edition of The Rugby Paper.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
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