This morning the names of about 67 Lions hopefuls, some with a good deal more hope than others, will be revealed by manager Donal Lenihan. The announcement, which is designed to help resolve the contractual issues well in advance, is not a provisional list from the which the final squad of 37 will emerge, as others not written to this week could yet elbow their way aboard the plane to Australia.
Lenihan confirmed yesterday that the 67 are being "sounded out" as to their availability for the Lions.
"The principle reason is contractual, not selectorial. It's better to do it this way than later announce a panel of 37 and then produce a contract which, if it produced any problems at all, we'd only have four weeks to resolve.
"The primary purpose is to get the contract out there and then the initial list of players would have four or five weeks to say they're available," added Lenihan.
"It's better to get things like intellectual rights and pre-contracts out of the way sooner rather than later, and had we not announced the names then journalists would have been ringing up players asking them if they were on the list. But this is not a definitive list."
With England set to dominate both today's initial list and the selected squad of 37, not to mention the Test team, this leaves the other Celtic countries hopeful of having between 12 to 15 in contention at this juncture.
Nor will they necessarily be confined to those who have played throughout the championship, as both Graham Henry and Lenihan are on record as saying that potential Lions will be judged as much on their track record and form over the season.
Today's list could thus give some form of sustenance to the returning wounded, such as the recuperating Scottish full back Glenn Metcalfe - currently on their A team - the forgotten hooker Phil Greening or, perhaps, the injured Irish trio of Eric Miller, Jeremy Davidson (given their Lions experience) and Kieron Dawson.
Not that they needed them in a Lions context, but Brian O'Driscoll's superlative performance against the French and Keith Wood's turbo-charged leadership assuredly cemented their standing amongst the estimated 21-22 dead certs for the tour to Australia. So too Malcolm O'Kelly, who was back to his brilliant best on Saturday where his top-class lineout and restart work was augmented by his mobility about the park.
Paddy Powers rate Ronan O'Gara an odds-on chance to make the 37-man cut, which seems a tad premature given the tough competition at outhalf. A similar caution could be applied to Clive Woodward's ranking of Jonny Wilkinson as the best outhalf in the world, though his shuddering early tackle on Mauro Bergamasco, 13 from 14 place-kicks and record 35 points, along with his distribution, could hardly be faulted.
Neil Jenkins is also a proven Lion, whose execution of dropgoals and penalties remains a notch above O'Gara's. Nonetheless, the 23-year-old Corkman has truly arrived at this level, overcoming an edgy start and three forced handling errors early on against the French to show he is now attacking the gain line as well as any of his rivals.
He also gave probably his best tackling display in an Irish jersey last Saturday, is rectifying an old flaw with long-distance touch finds from opposition restarts after scores and is now showing he can close out a game over 80 minutes. Then again, the gifted Gregor Townsend has to be in the frame too.
Having played continental opposition over the first two weekends, Irish players now go head-to-head with Lions rivals over the last three rounds. Indeed Saturday fortnight offers the Lions selectors the one complete set of match-ups of the championship when England play host to Scotland and Wales entertain Ireland.
O'Gara's head-to-head with Jenkins is a case in point, as is Rob Henderson's with another legendary Lion, Scott Gibbs. Henderson looks a tempting wager at 5 to 2, as a repeat of last Saturday's powerful display would assuredly nudge him closer to selection in front of the watching Henry.
Quicker than Gibbs, Henderson's performance against probably the second best defence in Europe showed how he now attacks space rather than opponents, and augments his sterling ball carrying with an ability to offload in the tackle.
Henderson's tackle on Richard Dourthe, when he flipped the abrasive French centre around to win a turnover, will have impressed Henry too. Furthermore, he is developing a magnificent partnership with O'Driscoll, is a proven impact sub and is a known good tourist. But this too is a highly competitive area, given the classy performances of Mike Catt and John Leslie last weekend.
Peter Clohessy's blip against the Italians will be long forgotten if he maintains the standards of last Saturday, and while the odds still remain longer against John Hayes, he complemented his trademark tackling and lifting with some mighty ball carrying. Three strong scrummaging days against their main rivals over the last three rounds of the championship would help their chances no end.
David Wallace's odds have halved following some financial interest from punters and his effort against the French. He is not an authentic continuity openside in the mould of Neil Back (who can assuredly be forgiven his illness-affected display against Italy) or Budge Pountney, while the pacey, try-scoring Joe Worsley impressed as a substitute for Back on Saturday.
For that reason, Kieron Dawson still cannot be ruled out yet either, but Wallace's top-of-the-ground running style would be well suited to Australia's hard grounds.
