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

A swift transition and into the familiar surroundings of a Zoom call, where Tommy Bowe and Jason Robinson have donned some rather fetching red polo shirts and are ready to give their memories on selection. Bowe recounts his club captains missing out in 2009 and 2013, and the contrast between his joy at selection and how Ryan Jones and Rory Best must have felt as club-mates at the Ospreys and Ulster made tours they didn’t.

“I think the Lions is probably the ultimate experience and challenge as a player,” says Robinson. “People don’t realise the competition within the group is fierce. The real challenge is to get into that starting 15.”

Here is the man they call the Fun Bus, the very personification, in many ways, of the British and Irish Lions, and looking rather bronzed, though the red background behind him may not be helping.

“It is still very special. Speak to any Lion, 99.9% of the time it is the pinnacle of their career. I’ve kept the letter,” says Leonard, who found out he was included on the 1993 tour of New Zealand via Teletext.

“Every aspect is unique. You walk away at the end of the tour and you have made friendships for life.

“Once you come away from a Lions tour you are a slightly changed person. How you come together as a team is quite unique, and the adversity you face.”

There is Lee McKenzie alongside the series trophy, reminding everyone watching where you can watch the announcement, and ensuring that the Lions’ sponsorship partners get a prominent early mention. In to the first of the, presumably, many montages for this lunchtime session with clips of previous Lions tours set to the appropriately grand orchaestral strains to tee things up.

Attack coach Gregor Townsend estimated that there was general agreement on about 20 of the squad after the first meeting of coaches at the Lensbury Hotel in Teddington, but that still leaves plenty to narrow down, particularly after an injury to George North. North’s absence leaves outside centre a problem position - will they risk taking Manu Tuilagi, just back in training after his most recent injury issue, but perhaps a neccessary threat? Does Henry Slade or Garry Ringrose travel as the fourth centre if Tuilagi goes? Might Elliot Daly’s versatility and showing on the last tour of New Zealand earn him the final outside backs place?

We’ll find out soon. Lee McKenzie’s arrival on stage is imminent.

An area of great strength, conversely, is the back row, but that does not mean selection is straightforward, with a surplus of outstanding opensides who have put their hands up to tour, but taking more than three would perhaps leave the Lions under-resourced elsewhere. Taulupe Faletau is a banker at number eight, but the back-up behind him has emerged as a hole to be filled after Billy Vunipola’s indifferent form over the last year or so.

That could have opened the door for Sam Simmonds of Exeter, European Player of the Year last year as his side secured a league and Champions Cup double, but not a favourite of Eddie Jones. He is of a very different mould to Vunipola or CJ Stander, another contender, slighter of frame and a more compactly explosive carrier slightly wider than tight-in basher. As we understand it, the Lions’ coaches have been convinced - it sounds like Simmonds may just make the 36 at the expense of Vunipola.

The general strength of the countries that make up this side means that it is rare that the coach has a genuine problem position, but scrum-half perhaps shapes as an area of concern for Warren Gatland. Conor Murray is the presumed favourite for the starting jersey come South Africa and a virtual certainty to tour, but was not a sure pick for Ireland ahead of the Six Nations after being below his best last year. Gareth Davies is another likely tourist who can operate in a similar role to South Africa’s all-action menace Faf de Klerk, but has not seized the starting jersey for Wales as might have been expected a year or two ago.

Beyond those two, however, take your pick, with as many as eight or nine conceivable third scrum-halves for Gatland to choose between. Of those, you would suggest one of Tomos Williams, Ali Price and Danny Care as the likeliest, and Care’s resurgent form for free-flowing Harlequins has thrown a player out of international favour right to the forefront of selection debate. He might just get the nod, you know, as an experienced head who would make a strong alternative and fine tourist. It would be the 34-year-old’s first Lions call-up.

In modern times, it is simpler than ever to follow this squad announcement, with the live stream carried on the Lions’ website, app, Youtube channel, Facebook AND Twitter, as well as official broadcaster Sky Sports covering it all in the necessary detail on Sky Sports Mix and Sky Sports News.

Lee McKenzie will guide everyone through the squad announcement, starting in about 20 minutes at 11:45 BST, with Jason Leonard, clad appropriately in logo tie and blazer, for company, along with a rotating panel of past and current Lions coaches and players. The timing for the naming of the captain and squad reads a little like a rural train schedule - Alun Wyn Jones’ likely coronation as captain should leave the swanky stage at 12:09, while the 35 other squad members will be confirmed from 12:28.

It is likely the squad is revealed alphabetically, though perhaps split into backs and forwards. A nervous wait may therefore be in store for Mako and Billy Vunipola, Duhan van der Merwe, and Tomos and Liam Williams.

There are a number of rumours flying around this morning about who may be celebrating in an hour’s time, but the nature of this naming, with players finding out as fans do, means that it can be tougher to decipher precisely what Warren Gatland and the rest of his staff have settled upon. Here’s our final squad prediction based on what we have heard and seen, split into positions groups, though there is a degree of versatility in the back five of the pack and backline particularly:

Prop: Mako Vunipola (LH), Wyn Jones (LH), Cian Healy (LH), Tadhg Furlong (TH), Kyle Sinckler (TH), Andrew Porter (TH/LH) Hooker: Jamie George, Ken Owens, Luke Cowan-Dickie Lock: Alun Wyn Jones (c), Maro Itoje, James Ryan, Tadhg Beirne, Iain Henderson Back Row: Taulupe Faletau, Tom Curry, Justin Tipuric, Hamish Watson, Sam Simmonds, Josh Navidi

Scrum-Half: Conor Murray, Gareth Davies, Danny Care Fly-Half: Dan Biggar, Finn Russell, Owen Farrell Centre: Robbie Henshaw, Jonathan Davies, Henry Slade, Manu Tuilagi Back Three: Stuart Hogg, Liam Williams, Anthony Watson, Josh Adams, Louis Rees-Zammit, Elliot Daly

For Warren Gatland, this could be a little old hat now as he steps into the shoes of the Lions’ head coach for a third time, but he has never had to select a squad for a tour like this. It is anticipated that the players will be forced to remain in a strict bubble while in South Africa, and will meet an opposition that have not played test rugby since the 2019 Rugby World Cup Final.

Gatland, too, arrives a more distant figure, having left Wales for Waikato and a coaching role with the Chiefs from which he is currently on sabbatical to enable him to take charge of this party. Plenty to mull for the New Zealander, before he even begins to assess fitness and form.

Here’s a more detailed look at the conundrums he might be facing:

It’s arrived.

After four years of talk of bankers, bolters, and predicted squads from anyone with even a vague connection to rugby, in a little less than an hour and a half Jason Leonard, Chairman of the British and Irish Lions, will reveal the 36 names chosen by Warren Gatland to tour South Africa this summer.

This quadrennial bringing together of four proud nations always provokes debate before, during, and after the squad reveal, but for the 50 or so players to have received letters suggesting they are in contention, the nervous waiting is almost over.