Sir Clive Woodward named a 44-strong squad for the eleven match, three Test trip down under at Heathrow Airport hotel today and there was good news for the following Welsh players:
Gareth Cooper (Dragons)
Gavin Henson (Ospreys)
Gethin Jenkins (Blues)
Steven Jones (Clermont Auvergne)
Micheal Owen (Dragons)
Dwayne Peel (Scarlets)
Tom Shanklin (Blues)
Gareth Thomas (Toulouse)
Martyn Williams (Blues)
Shane Williams (Ospreys)
The rest of the tour party will comprise of twenty English internationals, including Lawrence Dallaglio and Neil Back, eleven Irishmen, including the tour captain Brian O’Driscoll and three Scots. The number of Welsh players selected is exactly the same as that chosen by Graham Henry for the 2001 tour to Australia, although Scott Gibbs joined that contingent as a replacement.
Woodward made it clear that the door remains open for Jonny Wilkinson to join the party should he prove his fitness and regain peak form. He has also told the England duo of Mike Tindall land Phil Vickery that they, too, could make the tour if they recover in time.
“If we win the series in New Zealand it will be an achievement to match any other in my career,” said Woodward. “I know it’s going to be hard but I believe we can win. Rugby means more to the people of New Zealand than in any other part of the World.
“Historic is exactly what a win for the Lions would be this summer given that the tourists have only ever won one series in eleven attempts and notched six wins in 35 Tests. It’s a very experienced and exciting team and the only way to be successful down there is to be well prepared in every detail.”
While there will be disappointment for a number of Wales’s Grand Slam stars, Woodward said he expects the ten Welshman he has selected to be competing hard for Test places.
“If we were picking a Test team this weekend then the majority of the players would come from Wales and Ireland,” said Woodward. The only previous occasion on which the Lions have been successful in New Zealand was in 1971 when Wales’s Grand Slam skipper John Dawes captained tour.
Lions Squad 2005 Backs
I Balshaw (England)
G Murphy (Ireland)
J Robinson (England)
G Thomas (Wales)
S Williams (Wales)
J Lewsey (England)
S Horgan (Ireland)
D Hickie (Ireland)
T Shanklin (Wales)
B O’Driscoll (Ireland, capt)
G Henson (Wales)
O Smith (England)
G D’Arcy (Ireland)
W Greenwood (England)
S Jones (Wales)
R O’Gara (Ireland)
C Hodgson (England)
M Dawson (England)
D Peel (Wales)
G Cooper (Wales)
C Cusiter (Scotland)
Lions Squad 2005 Forwards
G Rowntree (England)
A Sheridan (England)
M Stevens (England)
G Jenkins (Wales)
J White (England)
J Hayes (Ireland)
G Bulloch (Scotland)
S Thompson (England)
A Titterrell (England)
S Byrne (Ireland)
D Grewcock (England)
B Kay (England)
M O’Kelly (Ireland)
D O’Callaghan (Ireland)
P O’Connell (Ireland)
M Owen (Wales)
R Hill (England)
N Back (England)
M Williams (Wales)
L Moody (England)
S Taylor (Scotland)
M Corry (England)
L Dallaglio (England)
