Lions look to England full-backs

Ten tours have come and gone without the slightest disturbance to the England-free zone surrounding the Lions' No.15 Test shirt.

All that may be about to change with two players from the same club - Bath's Matt Perry and Iain Bal-shaw - heading an ominously thin list of candidates.

One man who knows the trade better than most has little doubt the pair will travel to Australia in the summer.

Shane Howarth, formally declared ineligible for the Lions by the International Board - as was always certain after he was announced persona non grata for Wales last year - puts his money on the Bath boys. 'They are the only two I can think of at this stage,' said Howarth. 'But there's always the chance that someone will come through.'

The Six Nations will change the overall picture, but the scarcity of candidates suggests the pecking order may not change much at full back - hence coach Graham Henry's identification of the position as an area of concern.

The Lions' request for a legal ruling on Howarth's eligibility only underlined their concern.

Ironically Howarth, banned from playing for Wales after failing to produce a birth certificate in support of claims that his maternal grandfather, Tom Williams, came from Cardiff, did produce one to prove that his paternal grandfather, Arthur Kenyon Howarth, was born at 65 Albert Road, Romford on July 7, 1918. In other words, he could have played for England. His status as a Test All Black meant there was no way around the regulations.

'You have to be eligible to play for one of the home countries,' said Lions manager Donal Lenihan. 'If not, you can't be considered for the Lions.'

Chris Paterson has the pace and class to be the next Scottish Test Lion at full back but he needs a convincing Six Nations to get there. His Welsh counterpart Rhys Williams, two years younger at 20, faces a similar challenge.

Howarth, summoned by Henry to give Williams specialist coaching, said: 'Rhys is still learning. I think it will be too early for him to go. The best full back I've seen over the last couple of season is Conor O'Shea. Every time I've played against him, he's caused no end of grief.'

Thanks to a dislocated ankle, O'Shea is a non-starter - leaving the Irish with no serious contender. Girvan Dempsey is dependable but limited, having been recalled for the demoralised Geordan Murphy last November when the Leicester wing wound up being substituted against Japan and dropped to the A team.

Another Leicester player is in the running, albeit as an outsider.

Tim Stimpson, the sole specialist full back on the last tour only for Neil Jenkins to be selected for his superior goalkicking, is being watched despite his failure to make the England squad of 30 all season.

Jenkins has long abandoned the notion of pushing his luck any further at full back, the Springboks having failed to exploit his weakness until the 1997 series was lost.

Stimpson, a wing substitute for the Lions during the last Test in South Africa, at least has a European stage on which to sustain his challenge. Paul Sampson, the Wasp whose exceptional speed makes him worth a look, has to make do with a strictly domestic platform.

'There is a real opportunity for someone to state his case during the Six Nations,' said former England centre Simon Halliday, who is one of four 'advisers' to the Lions selectors.