Woodward: Why I had to rely on Jonny

Woodward confirmed that he had reconsidered Henson's claims after the Southland game but stuck with his original decision.

Wilkinson said: "I played at centre quite a lot when I was younger and the only major difference is that you stand a bit further out."

Woodward will unleash a squad boasting more than 1,000 caps in Christchurch. He has become so obsessed with combating the threat posed by New Zealand that he has chosen a breadth of experience the hosts cannot match.

O'Driscoll will lead out a Lions XV that has played in a combined total of 686 Tests, with another 318 international outings among the replacements, who will have key roles in a match the Lions cannot afford to lose. The All Blacks team have 420 Test caps.

Woodward has turned to the players he knows best: the England team he led to World Cup triumph. Despite the passing of time, he is adamant the men who helped gain him a knighthood in 2003 still have enough gas in the tank.

Six of the players that started the World Cup Final against Australia are in the team, headed by 36-year-old Neil Back, who is joined by Richard

Hill, Jason Robinson, Josh Lewsey, Wilkinson and Ben Kay. Matt Dawson, Will Greenwood and Steve Thompson are among the replacements.

Only Ryan Jones, the Wales No8, has forced Woodward to change his original thinking after making a sensational tryscoring debut against Otago last weekend.

He only joined the tour as a replacement for the injured Simon Taylor but the Lions recognised they had to find a place for him on the bench.

Woodward was accused of selecting a 'Grandad's Army' as he attempts to coach only the second Lions squad to win a Test series in New Zealand and he has maintained that perception with this team.

When coaching England, Woodward insisted that form and fitness were the only viable criteria to use and, patently, he has changed his thinking because neither Wilkinson nor Robinson are operating at their best. The same can be said for O'Driscoll.

However, Wilkinson was never going to pay the price for having missed so much rugby since the World Cup Final while Robinson has a track record of raising his game when faced with a serious challenge.

A Test series with New Zealand fits that category and Robinson will know that unless he repeats the try-scoring excellence we saw in the First Test of the 2001 Lions series with Australia, he will be dropped.

By opting for Wilkinson at centre, Woodward is playing a hunch. The Newcastle star last played a Test at centre in 1999. Now he is operating outside Jones, the man who guided Wales to Grand Slam glory, and both will be expected to boot deep into All Blacks territory.

The fact that the Lions have chosen five hardened England forwards along with the abrasive Irishman Paul O'Connell at lock confirms the view that his will be a torrid match up front. Shane Byrne, the Irish hooker, gets the No2 jersey because his line-out throwing is more reliable than Thompson's and Wales prop Gethin Jenkins has been the outstanding forward on tour.

All Blacks captain Tana Umaga, a member of rugby's thirtysomethings himself, has not been surprised by Woodward's reliance on the men who won the World Cup. He said: "I wasn't surprised they were in contention and it's a real boost for us old guys."

The decision by Woodward to keep faith with his former England team members has led to one Welsh fan putting his Lions jersey up for auction. He was so angry at the exclusion of Henson, Martyn Williams and Michael Owen that he set fire to the jersey.

New Zealand v British and Irish Lions, Christchurch, Saturday, 8.10am (Sky Sports 1)