Lions squad announcement LIVE: Jonny May and Kyle Sinckler miss out as Warren Gatland reveals selection

Very interesting to see that on the official squad sheet, Elliot Daly is listed as a centre, rather than in the back three, where he was a started four years ago and is more regularly sighted for England. His long-range boot will be handy at altitude, you’d think, and he certainly provides a different option at 13 if desired.

Having said that, if you’d said this morning that none of Manu Tuilagi, Garry Ringrose, Henry Slade AND Jonathan Davies would make the 37-man squad, most would have been very, very surprised.

“Obviously very tough on Johnny Sexton. He was exceptional from the floor in the Six Nations. Someone was going to miss out. Finn Russell missed out last time, and this time unfortunately it is Johnny.

“There is a little bit of concern about the concussions. He is a fantastic player, but it is very difficult with where we are going with the physicality they are going to bring.”

“It’s a little bit disappointing that families and supporters won’t be able to go out,” says Alun Wyn Jones, before revealing that his kids are a little confused by exactly what he does for a living. Playing for Manchester United, they reckon - “right colour, wrong ball”, is Jones’ remark.

It will be a peculiar Lions tour, of course, but you get the sense that the vastly experienced second row is just about the right man to lead the playing group. He’s returning to South Africa for a second time as a Lion, and joins compatriot Dai Young as players to have made the squad in three different decades.

More from Jones in a little bit, but this is a lovely little video put together on the squad by the Lions, with pictures of the 37 playing rugby when they were a little less hirstute and gnarled.

“It is probably one of the most difficult things to do for a coach, particularly on the back of one of the most competitive Six Nations for a long time. There have been a lot of people that have put their hands up. Louis Rees-Zammit is involved as one of the younger guys, so it is exciting.

“There are big omissions. It is a long time before the plane takes off and the squad tends to change with the risk of injury always there.”

“I missed the call because I was doing something out the back of the house. It was a very succinct voicemail. I knew what it was about, so I called him back.

“I wasn’t playiing hard to get, and it wasn’t apprehension, but there was a bit of a pause. To hear those words and that question, it is a very big thing in the rugby world. It wasn’t hard to accept.”

First in front of the media this afternoon is Alun Wyn Jones, this time clearly real and not animated as he takes a seat in front of the sponsors’ hoarding on Zoom...

Warren Gatland had said that after their performances in the Six Nations, the Scottish representation on tour was likely to be increased significantly, but eight members of the 37-man squad feels like one or two higher than one might have anticipated. Still, there is little to quibble with any of the eight inclusions, with Ali Price getting the nod as the third scrum-half, both starting props earning calls and Duhan van der Merwe’s muscle required as he returns to the country of his birth a Lion.