Spare a thought for Tom Croft. The young Leicester flanker was a fixture in most top pundits' British & Irish Lions Test XVs before Tuesday's squad announcement.

Yet he did not even make the 37-man tour party, overlooked in favour of Munster and Ireland warrior Alan Quinlan.

The quick and agile Croft has the added asset of excellent current form, but even that was not enough for a Lions management who clearly think power and physicality offer their best chance of beating the Springboks this summer.