Henry calls in specialist Lions scouts

Derek Quinnell, 23 caps for Wales as a multi-purpose forward between 1972 and 1980, a veteran of three Lions tours starting against t h e All Blacks as an uncapped player in 1971 and a former Wales manager. His sons, Scott and Craig, will hope to emulate him as internationals in their own right.

The four 'advisers' report for Lions duty at the end of next week with the hierarchy of Henry, England coach Andy Robinson and tour manager Donal Lenihan to formulate the policy behind selecting the 37 players for the 10-match tour at the end of this season. 'The selection process will start with the European Cup early next month,' said Lenihan. 'We will leave no stone unturned in our search for the best possible squad.

'The responsibility for selecting it rests with Graham, Andy and myself but our four advisers will have a very important role to play in watching every candidate. No player will be discounted just because he is not in his national team and we will cover the A matches as well as the internationals.

'We will also be seeking the opinions of the national coaches, Warren Gatland, Ian McGeechan and Clive Woodward. The only criteria that matters is finding the squad to win the Test series regardless of nationality and if that means all 37 players coming from one country, so be it.'

Henry, whose policy of selecting southern hemisphere players has provoked internal criticism, will take the unusual step later this week of meeting Bath coach Jon Callard amid concerns over the inactivity of the club's highly-rated Welsh

scrum half Gareth Cooper. The uncapped 21-year- old has been confined to the bench throughout all six Premiership matches so far this season as cover for Bath's goal-kicking former All Black, Jon Preston.

'This is a problem we need to discuss,' said Henry. 'I am having a sandwich and a cup of tea with the Bath club on Friday. I hope something can be arranged but if Bath are not going to pick Gareth they should think about releasing him. That would be only fair.

'Gareth played well on our development tour of Canada last summer but it's difficult to pick a guy when he has not been playing any rugby. How can you judge him? I know a lot of clubs in Wales desperate for his services.'

Bath may well sympathise but they are also anxious to reclaim the European Cup and Cooper, a regular until Preston returned from long-term injury last January, is too valuable to be released.

The Barbarians duly confirmed yesterday that Jonah Lomu will head the cast for the revival of their traditional end- of-tour match against South Africa at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff on December 10.

The New Zealander is one of six All Blacks to have accepted invitations for the match, along with Christian Cullen, Carlos Spencer, Byron Kelleher, Craig Dowd and Norm Maxwell.

Five Australians have also accepted; Daniel Herbert, David Giffin, Richard Harry Matt Burke and Owen Fine-gan. The advance list of 12 players includes only one from Britain, Swansea centre Mark Taylor, Wales' likely new captain for the pre-Christmas matches while David Young recovers from injury.

Fly half Stephen Larkham yesterday became the sixth World-Cup winning Wallaby to pull out of the tour party for the Tests against France, Scotland and England.

A knee injury has forced his withdrawal and he has been replaced by Nathan Grey.