LIONS coach Ian McGeechan said after his team's latest win over the Emerging Springboks that selection of the team for the first Test in Newlands on Saturday was "likely to be a long process."

He added: "The performance out there was informative in a positive sense. Successful tours mean hard work and the harder you work the better you get. Our players have worked hard, and selecting the Test team is going to be very difficult. We have to consider every option, assess the performances individually as well as collectively and make up our minds."

The four-man selection committee of manager Fran Cotton, McGeechan, his assistant Jim Telfer and team captain Martin Johnson met last night to select the side. "We still may not announce it until Saturday," added the coach.

Of yesterday's performance he said: "We started well, played badly and at times defended badly for 20 minutes before the interval but defended superbly when they came at us 10 minutes into the second half. The manner in which we finished the match was very encouraging. But you cannot afford defensive lapses."

Jason Leonard, who led the side cannot have been pleased with his own performance. He agreed with the assessment of the coach on the trend of the match. "We made a few mistakes before half-time and they took advantage of them."

Nor will McGeechan's comment on the importance of the scrum have been lost on Leonard. It was an area where the Lions got no advantage yesterday. "Under the current laws most line outs are now won by the side throwing in the ball. Good scrummaging is crucial as a platform and as a defensive mechanism," said McGeechan.

Nick Beal, who scored a hat-trick of fries said: "It is always special to score a hat-trick but extra special when you do it for the Lions."

The Emerging Springboks coach Nick Mallett said: "We started very badly, came back well, but we just could not deal with them when they attacked out wide. The Lions have got better and better. They dominated us in the end. But I think the Springboks will read the situation better than we did when the Lions do attack out wide. Nor is it likely that they will get as many opportunities against the Springboks. It could be very close on Saturday and the Springboks will take advantage of their opportunities and punish any wayward spells by the Lions."