No quibbles with Woodward's selections

Lions tour: With an English coach, who guided his country to that rarity among generations and generations of Northern Hemisphere players - a Test win in New Zealand - as well as a World Cup, it was always likely that the Lions' squad was going to be top heavy with English. Just as well they didn't win the Grand Slam themselves then.

All in all though, there would seem less to quibble with than was the case four years ago. As was entirely predictable, Clive Woodward has gone for experience and proven durability for a long winter slog amid the unforgiving intensity of a Lions tour to New Zealand. Experience has consistently won out.

Woodward, no less than Eddie O'Sullivan and Andy Robinson, was at pains to maintain that the squad was picked regardless of national identity and that there was no political in-trading. Perhaps that is truer of this Lions squad selection than many previously, and Woodward cannot be accused of being biased through his involvement with England over the last season, for his resignation from that position allowed him to spend equal amounts of time with each Test squad.

Nonetheless, in the heel of the hunt, one would venture that O'Sullivan and Robinson will be happier with the final number crunching than Mike Ruddock and Matt Williams - or at any rate the Welsh and Scottish media and public alike.

Viewed another way, Robinson might even be a tad embarrassed to have finished fourth in the Six Nations despite having the greatest apparent source of international riches at his disposal, while the poor Scottish return of just three players might accurately show what comparatively little Williams has to work with. Yet perhaps it's not entirely a coincidence that Ruddock and Williams were the two national head coaches not involved in the selection process. However, Ruddock last night accepted an invitation to join the tourists after Wales' tour to Canada.

Certainly, looking ahead to the 2007 World Cup (presuming of course that a plethora of players aren't crocked for years to come as was the case four years ago) the presence of 11 Irish players in the squad can only be of benefit to their further development as players.

Robinson, too, would presumably have argued for some of his favourites to be included, such as the Bath hooker Andy Titterrell ahead of the Welsh hookers Mefin Davies and Robyn McBryde.

Where players have been picked on past achievements or promise in nearly all instances they are English. An example of the latter is another Bath frontrow, the 6ft 4in, 18½ stone prop Matt Stevens.

To be fair Donncha O'Callaghan falls into that category to an extent, when you think that he gets in ahead of the likes of Simon Shaw, Steve Borthwick and the Welsh duo of Brent Cockbain - perhaps Wales' biggest bone of contention - and Robert Sidoli. But O'Callaghan is liable to go very well down there, while Malcolm O'Kelly will surely be a more streetwise Lions tourist for his disappointing experiences of four years ago in Australia when ultimately consigned to an opposition impersonator in training for the last few weeks.

There are plenty of examples of those picked on trust as opposed to current wellbeing or form, Richard Hill and, especially, Will Greenwood, who have had even less rugby this season than Gordon D'Arcy, who must be mightily relieved if due a turn of fortune and undoubtedly worthy of inclusion if free (please, please) of injury.

Yet some of the unluckiest to miss out, apart most obviously from the Scottish backrow Jason White (whose form in an often retreating Scottish team was one of their few consistently redeeming features) were English.

You think of Mark Cueto, the Sale and English winger now scoring tries for fun, or the Wasps pair of Shaw (who would probably have won a truckload more caps in a non-Woodward era) or his Wasps team-mate Ayoola Erinle, who in any other country would probably be capped by now and would have given the Lions serious oomph from the bench if nothing else.

Aside from D'Arcy, several other Irish will have almost been as relieved as they were ecstatic when receiving their mid-morning Test messages confirming their inclusion.

John Hayes was less of a surprise here, and given the fitness concerns of fellow tightheads Phil Vickery and Julian White, may have a very prominent role in New Zealand.

Other choices betray Woodward's understandable English leanings, such as Iain Balshaw, in large part on the strength of club form with Leeds, ahead of the talented Scottish Test fullback Chris Paterson, among others.

Ronan O'Gara, the form British and Irish outhalf in the autumn, deserves to go, and O'Sullivan will be rightly pleased for thinking that his 2007 outhalf was chosen ahead of David Humphreys among others. In the possible absence of Jonny Wilkinson, however, there'd be a case for bringing Humphreys as well, which one half expected Woodward to do.

It was a shame, as O'Sullivan pointed out, that Simon Easterby and Peter Stringer didn't make it, although it could hardly have been vindicated on Six Nations form.

Ultimately, it was no great surprise that - ironically given our supposed strength here - no Irish backrow made it. Anthony Foley looked a probable, near certain tourist in the autumn, but has suffered for the general fall-off in performance as well as his own in what is assuredly the most competitive area of selection. Alas no Trevor Brennan either, which would have been a lovely story as well as belated recognition of his improvement at Toulouse.

Johnny O'Connor was ultimately inched out by Neil Back, which Woodward intimated had been down in large part, ironically, to his performance in the Heineken European Cup quarter-final win over a supine Leinster and especially their selectorially-flawed backrow.

Indeed, in one curious aside, it's interesting to note that six of the 11 Irish are Leinster players, while there are nine Leicester players, which rather puts the latter's emphatic quarter-final win into perspective, in the sense that those who criticised the Leinster performance might reasonably argue this gives additional weight to their argument.