Obviously we weren’t watching, but the match has come to our attention due to this pre-match brawl. Trinity (the teenagers trying to look tough in the yellow, red and black shirts) decide to do a haka for reasons that aren’t entirely clear and their rivals, the Royal College (the teenagers trying to look tough in the black and yellow shirts) take offence to it, possibly asking such questions as ‘what is the point of this?’ and ‘your mum’.

Anyway, what follows is a few minutes hormonal teenage squaring up to each and pretending they’re grown-ups with hi-larious consequences and commentary. It’s not big, it’s not clever, but it is very amusing.

New Zealand were cruising to victory over France today that seals another series win for the world champions. With two minutes to go, they still didn’t take their collective foot off the gas. They had to absorb a bit of pressure as Les Bleus tried to pretend the evening wasn’t as utterly futile as the scorelines suggested, but when the chance came, they put together a brilliant counter-attack to put the cherry on top of a delicious cake.

The whole try was excellent, but this off-load from Aaron Cruden was the best bit. And I’m not just saying that because it was the only bit of the move I managed to capture in GIF form. If you can, check out the try in full on the various video uploading sites of the world later, but for the moment, here’s that incredible off-load.

He’s been there, done that and got the ice-skates. Former Wales and Lions captain Gareth Thomas has pretty much done it all. In an exclusive column for the Paddy Power Blog, he gives you his new and improved Lions starting team.

Everything can change at full-back. George North has got a wing spot and Tommy Bowe would have got the other one but now he has broken his hand. That means Alex Cuthbert could come in as a straight swap but given Cuthbert’s defensive ability in the big games then the option is Leigh Halfpenny to go in on the wing with North, and put Stuart Hogg in as full-back. Hogg has stood up to the challenge quite well so it will all depend on Cuthbert in the next two games.

Jamie Roberts is in at 12 sorted. Brian O’Driscoll has stood up and he’s been inspirational on this tour so far. I’d now put him in there with Jamie Roberts. The one man who is missing out in the centre and the man that will push both players for a place is Jonathan Davies. He has played really well and the next two games are crucial for him as he fights for his place.

Johnny Sexton and Mike Phillips are nine and 10. On the back row I’ve stuck with Jamie Heaslip although Toby Faletau has pushed him all the way for a spot. The skipper Sam Warburton stays at seven.

At six Dan Lydiate is hot on the heels of Tom Croft. Everyone is saying about Sean O’Brien and he plays really well but he doesn’t contribute to a back three. He is playing out of his skin individually but in a unit he shouldn’t be included.

Despite his fancy footwork Sean O’Brien hasn’t done enough to impress our GT

Alun Wyn Jones is nailed on in the second row but Richie Graham hasn’t done much so far so replace him with Paul O’Connell who has been massive. Obviously losing Cian Healy and Gethin Jenkins on the front row is huge. Make Vunipola has played well up until now but it will be interesting to see how he copes in the heated environment of the next two games.

Nobody has really put their hand up as hooker, they’ve all made mistakes, and they’ve all overthrown line-outs. Richard Hibbard is pushing for a place but I’m sticking with Rory Best in my starting line-up. The other prop then is my first choice Adam Jones.

You can argue there was more point playing the Combined Countries than the Western Force but both games were non-starters. To be fair these guys can only play what is in front of them.

SIMPLES: George North demonstrates how easy it is to score a try against Combined Countries

The match against the Waratahs will be a shadow-test game. It has to be a complete performance so defensively they have to tighten up. They really need to stop leaving dog-legs in behind.

The line-outs are a concern for the team. This is where now potential test hookers need to stand up. It only needs one solid performance from one of them in the line-outs and they’ll guarantee themselves a spot. This week they’ll be working hard on that.

The attack, even though they haven’t had much of a challenge yet, looks in really good shape and they’re in need of a test now. There shouldn’t be too many concerns about the Lions scrum. They might not dominate but they can stand their ground and that’s more than enough.

SCRUMMING IT: Gareth Thomas has no worries about the Lions scrum so neither do we

The Lions should win against the Waratahs because they will play presumably the first team. It will be a tough game but they should still win by about 10 points.

The following match against the Brumbies will be interesting. That team could be made up of a lot of the disappointed players who didn’t make the test game and they’ll be dealing with that. The Brumbies might be a bet because they are the top team this year and they have some great talent in their squad. The Lions will come unstuck there.

They could lose that and in the greater scheme it could be good as it will galvanise them and pull the team together ahead of the opening test against Australia.

Backing Gareth Thomas?
Dive into the latest betting odds on the Lions

• Discover more words of wisdom from Gareth Thomas here

In an exclusive column for the Paddy Power Blog, Lions and Wales legend Gareth Thomas explains why Warren Gatland has some big decisions to make but skipper Sam Warburton must start.

Warren Gatland has made a bed to lie in by picking Sam Warburton as captain and with not long to go before the first Test with Australia, he’s got a dilemma he probably wasn’t expecting. Warren will end up with major egg on his face is he doesn’t pick Sam for the first Test, but so many of the back rowers have impressed on tour, it’s hard to see a place for him.

Justin Tipuric has been playing out of his skin, Toby Faletau has shown he’s up for it, Sean O’Brien has impressed – there are so many possible combinations you have to admit that the one that gives the Lions their best chance of victory may not involve Sam Warburton.

I would keep Sam in the team, but purely because he is captain. When you select your captain for such a prestigious tour – from all the other possible captains – you have to be pretty damn certain that he’s going to be worth his place in the team. The way Sam’s rivals have played has blown it wide open. Sam hasn’t done anything wrong and it doesn’t undermine him, but candidates who weren’t really considered genuine contenders for the Test team a few weeks back have put their hands up by playing really well.

UNDER PRESSURE: Warburton has to contend with being captain and facing Adam Jones’ rear-end

It puts pressure on Sam. Whatever the players say is bullshit – players know what’s being said about them in the press. If it’s good, it adds to the self-confidence and if it’s negative, it makes them aware that they’re under pressure. Under the microscope of the Lions media, Warby will know that he’s under pressure to rise to the standards the players have set.

There will be pressure on him but he should be able to deal with it.. The other guys playing have more freedom to go and express themselves on the pitch because Warby is taking the pressure and the spotlight off them.

In 2005 Brian O’Driscoll was the captain and that was the be all and end all. There was no vice-captain or second in line. O’Driscoll was the man and we all stood by him. When he got speared I had no idea that Clive Woodward was going to approach me to be captain for the rest of the tour.

The New Zealand players didn’t take out O’Driscoll that year because of anyone disrespecting the Hakka, they wanted to get him off the field because he is a world class player and he was capable of changing the game.

CLASS ACT: O’Driscoll has perfected the art of try-scoring and posing for photos simultaneously

Captain’s orders

With all the media speculation you just have to get on with it. Whether you play on the local park or at a sell-out stadium, it is still rugby, a working-class traditional sport. When you go on a Lions tour it is completely different to anything you’ll ever do. All of a sudden there is a media bandwagon and a whole group of supporters from all over the British Isles. You realise it is completely different and sometimes you only realise when it is too fucking late.

As captain in 2005 I had to deal with Alastair Campbell quite a lot. Although I wasn’t ready for it or expecting it, I realised it was all about promoting the sport and the Lions brand. You have to create stories and get on the back pages because it is a big business and we need to promote the tour.

At times I thought, ‘what’s the fucking point?’ I was just there for the rugby, but now I get it and I understand.

OMG: Gareth Thomas reacts to news that he gets to spend more time with Alastair Campbell

The fight for places

The next two games will dictate the team for the Lions. The partnerships start to gel and it is interesting to see the attitude of the players who figure out that they’re not in the test squad. Some of them will knuckle down and help and some will understandably get pissed off and upset about not being there. On the training field at the moment there are boys that know if they have done enough.

There are plenty of players who will get disheartened and you wouldn’t be right if you weren’t gutted. You have to get over that in a matter of seconds. I respect players who are pissed off at not being selected. You can’t be happy at missing out on a once in a lifetime opportunity. This is the first test and there’s a lot more rugby, and a lot more injuries to come. You’re not there to be pissed off, you’re not there to sulk. You’re there to get on with it and play for your place.

Now read Gareth’s team for the first test and get his tips ahead of the Waratahs and the Brumbies

• Gareth Thomas on conniving Aussies, team bonding and more 
• Dive into the latest Lions betting

He’s been there, done that and got the ice-skates. Former Wales and Lions captain Gareth Thomas has pretty much done it all. In an exclusive column for the Paddy Power Blog, speculates that the easy wins may be a result of some Australian scheming

Out of the three nations that the Lions tour to, Australia are probably the most conniving. That was my experience as a player and it wouldn’t surprise me in the slightest if there was an understanding within Australian rugby to give the Lions an easy build-up to the Tests. If they hold back in the tour matches, let the team think they’re better than they really are and then leather into them in the first Test.

For the Wallabies, it’s all about winning the Test matches and if I was in the Australian camp, the best thing to do would be to not test them, let them think they’re amazing, let them think they can steamroller over us. You wouldn’t want the Lions to test their defensive systems or get up to Test match intensity so when you get the chance to face them, they’re off the pace and you can smash them. It makes sense, but I don’t like it. It’s a devious tactic, it’s underhanded, but if your goal is solely to win the Test series, then of course the Aussies will do it.

Two games, two convincing wins. With a start like that, I thought I’d be over the moon with the Lions’ start to the tour. But it’s become a double-edged sword. They haven’t really been tested in either game. The BaaBaas game wasn’t as important because they are a team thrown together similar to the Lions, but against the Western Force, a team that are playing together week in, week out, you want a tougher examination.

FAIL FORCE – We’re not saying the game against the Western Force was too easy, but Manu Tuilagi did try to practice his ventriloquism during the match (pic: Inpho)

Are midweek games history?

The Lions can only play what’s in front of them and what was in front of them on Wednesday was almost degrading. As a player, coach or fan of the Lions, you expect more from an opposition – more respect for the history and the concept of the team. I take my hat off to the boys because sometimes it’s hard to go out against a team you know are very weak and give it everything. The Lions need to be tested.

It’s almost come to the point where Lions tours will consist of all Test matches. If teams are going to do what the Force did, it’s not worth playing them. You’re better off just doing a training session. It’s unfortunate that this tradition is under threat, because of behaviour like that, but it’s a natural consequence of professionalism. Everyone knows that it’s all about the Tests and the club teams know there’s not much in it for them. The Lions players may come off the pitch physically, tired, but not smashed up in the way they used to be against more passionate opponents. Next year’s contract is now a bigger deal for the players than a Lions’ scalp.

There’s clearly been changes in the professional era. Back in the day, a provincial team or a club team playing the Lions was huge. The opportunity to take the Lions scalp was such a great incentive, you would do anything to win that match. Back in the 1970s, 80s and 90s, the Lions players would come off the pitch fucking battered and bruised because the tour matches meant something. The opposition were ferocious because they players in those teams realised they were never going to get the chance to represent their country, so their only chance of doing something to help their country was battering the Lions.

Warren Gatland says he might up the training sessions to Test intensity if the players aren’t getting tested enough and I fully support that. I’d even consider bringing in a few ‘banshees’ from the local clubs – guys who you know will hit the Lions players hard rather than just having half the Lions squad facing the other half of the Lions squad and going easier on each other.

Before Twitter, Brian Moore used to get his pent up aggression out on the rugby pitch (pic: Inpho)

The Pros and cons of modern rugby

Nowadays, the players and coaches know they won’t be judged on the Lions match, they’ll be judged on how the season went as a whole, the finals they reach and where they finish in the league. It’s so cut-throat, there’s no other way. The Western Force saw their Super Rugby game at the weekend as being more important than playing the Lions and you end up with a shadow team with players who’ve barely played any first team games.

I agree with Clive Woodward when he said fielding such a weakened team was showing a lack of respect. But on the flipside, I can totally understand where the Australians are coming from. I remember when I went on a Lions tour, it was such a big thing for the sport in New Zealand, the tour matches were important. They’d waited 12 years for the Lions to come back and everything was geared towards it. When we got there, it was intense and you couldn’t get away from it. Every corner you turned, every man, woman or child wanted to talk rugby, nobody could escape it.

In South Africa and New Zealand, rugby is the number one sport, but when you go to Australia it’s maybe only fourth or fifth and the country as a whole doesn’t respect the tradition of the Lions as much the others. The Lions coming to town is a great opportunity to boost the profile of the game in the country and if they keep treating the games like they are, it will go to waste.

The local crowd can barely contain their excitement as Brian O’Driscoll finishes off a classy try v Western Force (pic: Inpho)

The sledge of reason

I’ve been happy with how the Lions have done in their two games, but indiscipline is becoming a bit of a recurring theme. Cian Healy has ultimately not been charged with anything untoward, but generally, the players need to learn how to control themselves and not get into those positions. The Aussies are going to throw a lot of verbals at you, they’ll niggle you on the floor and do whatever they can to wind you up. They’re renowned for it so more so than ever, the players need to watch their discipline.

The one I recall most from playing Australia was the late hits. That was a speciality. You’d pass the ball on and then a couple of seconds later you get wiped out. You’ve got a choice – do I get up and retaliate or do I just get on with it? You’ve just got to get on with it because no-one’s seen it. They’re also very good at getting in your face when you fuck up. If you make a mistake, they’ll be straight up to you saying ‘you’re rubbish’, ‘you shouldn’t be here’, ‘you can’t kick for shit, you can’t catch’ – that sort of stuff but with a lot more swear words. In a Test match environment where you’re so pumped up, that can flip you over the edge, but you have to use it as motivation to play hard, but within the rules.

Johnny Sexton wasn’t too happy with Leigh Halfpenny doing the place-kicking duties on Wednesday and I can appreciate because you want to impress every time you can to get that Test jersey. But this tour isn’t about Johnny Sexton, Leigh Halfpenny or any individual – it’s about doing what’s right for the Lions and by giving Leigh more experience, Warren Gatland is improving the options at his disposal. In the end, he kicked 11 from 11 including some very tough ones and if that contributes towards him producing the goods on a bigger stage, it’s only a good thing.

Aussie love rubbing things in people’s faces so much sometimes they do it to their own team-mates (pic: Inpho)

Gareth’s bet v Queensland Reds:

• The Lions to win by between 1-10 points on the alternative Winning Margin @ 3/1

Hopefully they’ll get a sterner match against the Queensland Reds. There are a few things to work on defensively for the Lions. They’ve been caught out a couple of times, especially against the Western Force. They’re trying to play the umbrella defence a bit and coming up quickly on the outside, but there was on occasion Sean O’Brien shot out of the line leaving a gap which they scored from. It’s the right approach because it can really choke teams, but it’s a high risk, high reward thing and some of the players may need to get used to their role in it. It was difficult against such weak opposition, but they didn’t have enough pride in defending their line at times and you want them to the adopt the mentality of ‘we are not giving you a single point’.

I’m expecting Saturday’s game to be much tougher than the two that have gone before. But with so much to play for, I’m expecting another big performance. Everyone in the squad will know that the first two results didn’t count for much due to the quality of the opposition and this might be the first time they’re playing a decent team. Covering an 18 point handicap is a lot to ask. I can see the Lions winning by anything up to about 10 points.

The Lions take on the Queensland Reds on Saturday and Paddy Power has a great Money-Back Special on it. If the first try is scored by a forward, we will refund all losing try scorer bets on the match!

More from Gareth Thomas:

• Why a shed-load of beer will do wonders for team-bonding
• My starting XV for the 1st Test
• Dylan Hartley could have cost the Lions everything

The Paddy Power Blog reveals the starting odds for previous Lions tours and whether the performances matched the prices.

It’s the start of the Northern Hemisphere summer, after months of speculation the squad has finally been picked and even the din surrounding players left out is now not much more than a quiet echo. In that fun can breed no small amount of confidence. A Lions team is a veritable fantasy XV from rugby’s ‘home’ nations, after all; an unstoppable juggernaut, surely.

It’s sometimes hard to look back in time to wonder how people really viewed the probability of a win in a sports event, but one objective way is to look at the odds in favour of that win happening prior to that event taking place. To that end, I have been allowed access to the vast machine that drives Paddy Power to peer into the dusty corners of their odds archives and see what I could find.

2001: Australia — Faith in favourites misplaced

WOULD ROO BELIEVE IT? Johnny Wilkinson measures up a hairy local for a good kicking

A youthful Brian O’Driscoll is off on his first Lions tour, captained by Martin Johnson and coached by the not-yet-Sir Graham Henry. The odds of a Lions series win? 1.33 (approx. 1/3 in traditional betting parlance). Unfortunately, that faith was misplaced. The Lions, having won the first test, would go on to lose the final two tests and the series. A side that’s a 1/3 favourite should win the first test 29-13. However, a side that’s a 1/3 favourite should probably not have lost the second test 35-14.

2005: New Zealand — Wallopings show bookies got it bang-on

CRUNCH TIME: Paul O’Connell introduces himself to All Black Byron Kelleher in 2005

The Clive Woodward Experience. Despite (or perhaps because of) the selection of 44 players in the initial squad as well as a horde of travelling management, the public at the time were distinctly wary of predicting a Lions series win with the odds sitting at 13.00 (12/1). Three test defeats later at the hands of the All Blacks, including two wallopings, the public walked away knowing the series odds had been about right.

12/1 in a two-horse race is very long odds indeed but the strange thing was that the price for a 3-0 Lions series win was just 14/1. One would think that a Lions whitewash should have been priced more attractively.

2009: South Africa — Underdogs salvage some pride

CAN HE KICK IT? Stephen Jones lines one up but the Lions lost two out of three games

Paul O’Connell captained a Lions squad containing vast multitudes of Irishmen (a total of 16 by the end of the tour), fresh from their Six Nations Grand Slam. Odds of a Lions series win sat at 6.00 (5/1), and, although the Lions won the third test by 19 points to claim an overall victory on points difference the sad fact was that the first two encounters had already been narrowly lost.

Without considering the third test victory in a dead rubber match, a side that lost two games by a cumulative deficit of eight points going into a series that they were given 5/1 odds to win probably did very well indeed.

2013: Australia — Can favourites live up to the hype?

PLANE BUDDIES: Sean O’Brien shows a bit of leg to George North en route to Australia

The Lions are back in Australia and the enthusiasm has similarly followed that of 12 years ago, with the Lions odds-on for a series win at 1.62 (8/13) at the time of writing. Winning a Lions series isn’t easy; the Lions coaching staff have a month to mould star players from four nations into an effective, match-winning unit.

Of course, between injuries to David Pollock and his mooted replacement George Smith along with uncertainty about the selection or availability of the gifted Kurtley Beale and Quaid Cooper, the Australians are not without issues themselves.

The Lions are odds-on favourites at 8/13, but the series forecast prices sit at around 8/5 for a 2-1 series win and 7/2 for a whitewash. When one thinks that in the last three Lions series the Lions have won only a single test match that wasn’t already a dead rubber, if you’re confident of a Lions series win but have half an eye on the history books that 8/5 price for a 2-1 series win seems like the smarter price.

Follow me on Twitter @andymcgeady

Agree with Andy’s 2-1 test tip? Roar into the latest odds with Paddy Power

He’s been there, done that and got the ice-skates. Former Wales and Lions captain Gareth Thomas has pretty much done it all. In an exclusive column for the Paddy Power Blog, he looks at the team-bonding process and why the Lions will beat the Barbarians by 20 points

The first few days of the Lions tour are strange. There’s no other way to describe it. You all meet up and straight away you’re into a lot of the team-bonding exercises. The usual stuff – splitting up into groups, going away, being given specific challenges to do, like Crystal Maze outdoor pursuit stuff. I thought it was absolute bullshit, but you understand why have to go through it to get closer to your team-mates.

The thing is, even though everyone in the back of their minds is thinking ‘what is the fucking point of this?’ you know you have to get stuck into it because everything you do on the tour is being watched. You want to do your best because everything you do is potentially make or break for a potential Lions Test jersey. Everything you’re asked to do you do whether you like it or not.

It makes sense because the natural thing that happens is you end up sticking to the people you know. The Welsh boys sticking with the Welsh boys, the English boys together and all that. When you walk into a room, you’re natural tendency is to spot where your mates are and sit down with them. The coaches have to throw in things that will get you out of your comfort zone and get you moving in different circles.

BEST PALS – Richie Grey was self-conscious about his nipples, but that didn’t stop him bonding with Rory Best (pic: Inpho)

The Beer Necessities

It’s the strangest thing having conversations and forming bonds with guys who you’ve only ever shook hands with after a game and you’ve been trying to hurt badly for the previous three years! All of a sudden, you’re standing in a room with them and you’ve got to try to get on with them.

I always felt that the best thing we ever did – and I know it sounds totally amateur, but I’m sure it’ll happen this time around – is shut a door, get a shedload of beer in and everyone sits down, has a drink, let’s their guard down a bit and opens up to other people. That’s the best way I found of getting to know people. You’ve got your safety blanket of your 10 other Welsh mates in the corner, but if you’ve had a drink or two and you’ve got a bit of Dutch courage, you’ll go over to the Irish lads or the Scottish lads and getting chatting to them. For me, it was just an easy way of letting your barriers down and starting to mingle with everybody else.

Being a Welshman, one of the things I found weird was how well I got on with just about every one of the English players. There’s such a rivalry between the Welsh and the English – or the English and anyone for that matter – that I never realised until we were on tour what a bunch of cool guys they were. Jonny Wilkinson, Lawrence Dallaglio, William Greenwood, Matt Dawson – they were guys I only ever faced in the context of this fierce rivalry. I never really wanted to get to know them because of the rivalry, but being on the Lions tour, I found myself gelling with the English guys and a lot of the Welsh guys felt exactly the same. When you think about our rugby upbringing, it just seems like the strangest thing that could have happened.

The friend of the hostilities

I got really friendly with Matt Dawson. It was an odd thing because as I player, I always wanted to get at him during a match. I always thought you could get under his skin, but then I found out what an awesome bloke he was.

I played the English lads a couple of times after the Lions tour and it was a little bit different. Whereas before I was focussed on smashing them, before the match I’d look over and give them a nod or say hello. Then when the match started, it was normal service resumes. When you’re in the Millennium Stadium and you’ve got 80,000 people going crazy, the friendship takes a back seat and you go hell for leather. They end up being friendships for life because you have this shared experience – you’ve been on tour, you’ve played together, you’ve been through it all and you end up forging a stronger bond.

IT’S COOL WITH ME – George North is only doing it for the fans (pic: Inpho)

You’ve Gat’ to give it all under Warren

Warren Gatland is a big stickler for the training pitch and he will be working on what he wants from day one. The boys who’ve been in Aviva Premiership and RaboDirect Pro12 finals have the advantage of playing up until recently, but the guys who didn’t have the advantage of training under Warren. It’s hard to overstate how intently Warren watches training. He takes a lot out of what happens on the training pitch because his way of thinking is ‘if you’ve got a good mind-set on the training pitch and you give it everything, imagine what you’ll do in a match situation’.

The competition for places starts as soon as the squad is announced. A player wouldn’t be on a Lions Tour if he wasn’t competitive. That doesn’t affect how you interact with those guys off the pitch, but on the field that rivalry is constant.

If you’re in training and you get the chance to get one over on a rival you wouldn’t be worthy of a Lions jersey if you didn’t take that opportunity

Under Clive Woodward on the 2005 Tour, we didn’t do too much physical work and I didn’t get the chance to rip into one of the guys going for my position, but if I was watching one of my rivals for a Test place from the stands and he had an outstanding game on Wednesday, you needed to make sure you have an even more outstanding game on the Saturday. There’s a cycle of competitiveness and that’s what’s so good about it. All these players are in direct competition with each other for the one jersey so it’s not a bad thing to say ‘I want that jersey and I will fight for it’.

Against the Barbarians, I’m expecting a win.

Gareth’s bet v the Barbarians:

• The Lions to win -20 points on the alternative handicap @ 6/4

The Tests are the be all and end all, but these games are massively important. The squad need to develop a winning mentally and a good performance in defeat just doesn’t cut it. Winning becomes a habit and losing can become a habit so it’s vital that the Lions kick off the tour with a win. Winning is everything. You get remembered for winning.

The competition for places should dictate that this is a strong performance. Players who maybe see themselves as being down the pecking order have a chance to get noticed and I’m hoping for a performance with the intensity to match that. Every minute of this tour – whether it be on the training field or the game field – it’s really important to impress with the ultimate goal being getting a Test place.

Picking a result is tricky. You’ve got a new team coming together with the Lions, but you’ve got a slightly less new team coming together in the Barbarians. All we know about the Baabaas is that they’ll play open rugby and that could play into the Lions’ hands. Looking at the team named, I would say the Lions are capable of winning by a comfortable 20 points (Lions -20 points is 6/4 on the alternative handicap). People might be expecting a slow start, but anyone in this team is playing for a the massive carrot that is a place in the Test team and I would expect that incentive to be worth about 20 points.

Hong Kong – The Hot Topic

I’ve read some criticism of the Lions playing this game in Hong Kong. With the heat and humidity, it doesn’t look like the nicest experience for the players. But rugby turned into a business a long time ago. It has the potential to impact the players, but I doubt it. They’ll be treated with kid gloves – they’ll have the best preparation, they’ll have the best recovery. It may be a bit hot, it may be a bit cold, it may be raining, but at the end of the day, if I was a Lion and I was asked to go and play in the middle of the desert in Saudi Arabia against the Baabaas, I’d fucking do it. It’s just such a massive honour you just get on with it.

The Lions play their first tour match against the Barbarians on Saturday and Paddy Power has a great Money-Back Special on it. If the first try is scored by a forward, we will refund all losing try scorer bets on the match!

More from Gareth Thomas:

• My starting XV for the 1st Test
• Dylan Hartley could have cost the Lions everything

He’s been there, done that and got the ice-skates. Former Wales and Lions captain Gareth Thomas has pretty much done it all. In an exclusive column for the Paddy Power Blog, he gives us his insight on life as Lion. Today he picks his starting team for the first Test.

There’s a long way to go and a lot of chances for players to put their hand up for selection through good performances in training or the tour matches, but if the first Test against Australia was tomorrow, this is my team.

It’s not easy and a lot of very good players miss out because they’ve ended up on the wrong side of some very marginal calls. One disagreement I know people will have (particularly the Irish) centres on Brian O’Driscoll. He was a leading contender for the captaincy, but he only makes my bench.

O’Driscoll is one of the greatest rugby players of all time and I tip my hat to the incredible career he has had. The moments of magic he has created are amazing, but as you get older, you lose that yard of pace and he’s starting to feel the effects of that. He’s still got plenty to offer, but it’s a natural process that you can’t avoid. I see Manu Tuilagi as being a better fit. It may not be the only disagreement you have with my team which looks like this…

#15 Leigh Halfpenny

He’s a solid choice. He’s not as exciting a player as Kearney or possibly Hogg, but what he gives you is the ability to put over a penalty from way inside his own half. He has the capability of punishing teams in areas in which they think they can get away with it. They’ll play close to the line thinking they won’t give away points, but when you have Halfpenny in your team they will be punished. That means the opposition have to adopt a much cleaner mind-set in different parts of the field and that’s what makes him such an important weapon.

#14 Tommy Bowe

I’ve put Bowe in because he’s just got the habit of scoring tries. He’s an outstanding player with the knack of being in the right place at the right time. He’s another hard worker and although it must have been frustrating to miss a lot of the season with injury, he’ll be one of the fresher players in the Lions squad.

#13 Manu Tuilagi

It’s not a choice everyone will agree with, but I’ve gone with Tuilagi to complement Roberts. They’re both physical players, but Tuilagi gives you that flair where you’re never quite sure what he’s about to do. Alongside Roberts, it’s a talented centre partnership. They’ll attract defenders because they’re so strong and they’ve got the skill to offload and put North, Bowe and Halfpenny in space.

#12 Jamie Roberts

Jamie is really the only out and out 12 in the squad and the obvious candidate for that slot. He was excellent four years ago in South Africa and there’s no-one in the meantime who has genuinely threatened his place in the team.

#11 George North

North offers the physicality and looks for work all over the pitch. He’s almost like an extra back-rower with some of the positions he takes up. He’s a big, powerful player with his own attacking threat and those skills will be important against the Wallabies.

#10 Johnny Sexton

I’ve gone for Sexton over Farrell in large part due to his experience. Neither has Lions experience, but Johnny does have a lot more top level experience. He’s not as physical as Farrell, but he does have more flair and his tactical kicking out of hand is better.

#9 Mike Phillips

Phillips was an easy pick because of his physical presence and his pass. Around the edges of the scrum and the ruck, he’s a threat. He’s ferocious and you don’t always get that from a scrum half. Normally nines are relaxed and calculating and while Phillips does that, he’s got an aggression and ‘nastiness’ to his game that gives him the edge.

#8 Jamie Heaslip

He’s had a fantastic season. He’s the obvious choice at eight as far as I’m concerned. He works hard, he’s the outstanding candidate in the position. He’s dogged and he always sticks his head in. He’s almost like another second row, but he’s also got the speed.

#7 Sam Warburton

He’s the captain and he’s the right choice as captain. He’ll lead by example and you know you’ll get nothing other than total commitment. He’s got the brain you need. He knows when the ball is won, when the ball is lost – when to fight for the ball, when not to fight for the ball.

#6 Tom Croft

The battle for the six jersey is one of the hardest to call in the squad, but Croft’s ability to be a line-out option gives him the nod. He’s got the speed around the park too. He’ll work well with the other three and they’ve got a mixture of skills to cover all the things you need from your back row.

#5 Alan Wyn Jones

Wyn Jones will be the leader of the line-out, he’ll call where the ball is gonna go to. He’s good on the floor in the line-out – he beats people on the floor before he gets into the air. He’s just a really strong player.

#4 Richie Gray

Gray offers something different to Wyn Jones. He’s a big bloke, but he’s a natural athlete similar to Tom Croft in many ways. He’ll carry the ball in one arm, look to offload and do something a little bit different than your bog standard second row.

#3 Adam Jones

What’s going to happen in the Tests is that the props will be used for 50 or 60 minutes before the fresh props are brought on. I’ve gone for Adam because he went through the Six Nations and just demolished everyone he came up against. With the Australians’ weakness being their scrum, you need to have him in from the start to capitalise. He’ll secure good ball for the Lions and disrupt the Wallabies on theirs.

#2 Rory Best

If Dylan Hartley was still in there, I’d go for him because they’re similar players. He’s a late addition to the squad, but he jumps right to the top of the queue. With the excitement of suddenly being in the squad, I think he’s going to work a lot harder than the others because it’s come so unexpectedly.

#1 Gethin Jenkins

He’s in for similar reasons to Adam Jones and the strength of his scrummaging, but unlike Jones, he offers a lot more around the field. He’s known for making covering tackles or popping up in places you don’t expect.

Why I picked this team…

They’re my picks, but knowing what Warren Gatland likes in his teams, I wouldn’t be surprised if it was close to the team that lines out on June 22. He likes big, physical players around the pitch and a defensive structure that gets up and gets into people’s faces. His teams are physically imposing and able to execute his game plan. It’s a young team with a lot of experience in it

Obviously Sam Warburton is captain, but this squad has leaders scattered around the pitch. I’m not sure the experience of Paul O’Connell and Brian O’Driscoll as leaders is as significant as it would have been on previous tours. They’ll both be involved in the Tests and they’ll be more than bit part cameo appearances, but for the starting team I’ve picked, there’s a youth and excitement that they’re kind of lacking as the years catch up on them. They’ve got a huge store of knowledge and experience that will be priceless throughout the tour.

I’ve picked the team as units rather than the best individual in the position. The best individual might well be part of that unit, but I’ve attempted to put together groups that will work well together . When it came down to it, I wanted good combinations. Rather than Wyn Jones and O’Connell, I wanted two slightly different players alongside each other and I couldn’t have Paul in ahead of Alan in that position. I see Jones being a younger version of O’Connell and having them together makes the second row more unbalanced than it could be.

Some questioned its usefulness, but O’Driscoll took his man-hug training very seriously

Likewise, BOD and Roberts worked great together four years ago, but O’Driscoll of 2013 is a different player to back then and now a bit too similar to Roberts. I see Tuilagi as a better fit and offering something else that the O’Driscoll/Roberts combination doesn’t.

To an extent, O’Driscoll is a victim of his own success. When you set the bar as high as he has, then people expect almost more than perfection. When he has a good game as opposed to an excellent game, people give him stick, just because he hasn’t been as excellent as he can be. He’s still got a big role to play for the Lions and when you sit back and think about the fact that this is his fourth tour and the quality available in Britain and Ireland at that position, still being there is an incredible achievement.

• More from Gareth Thomas: Dylan Hartley could have cost the Lions everything

The Lions play their first tour match against the Barbarians on Saturday and Paddy Power has a great Money-Back Special on it. If the first try is scored by a forward, we will refund all losing try scorer bets on the match!

He’s been there, done that and got the ice-skates. Former Wales and Lions captain Gareth Thomas has pretty much done it all. In an exclusive new column for the Paddy Power Blog, he gives you his view on Dylan Hartley and his moment of madness.

After four years of waiting, missing out on a Lions Tour is devastating for Dylan Hartley. But, on the other hand, he’s got his just rewards because you simply cannot do that sort of stuff. You cannot call the referee a ‘fucking cheat’. There’s just no leeway with that. Rightly so.

I like Dylan Hartley because he’s really aggressive and that’s a quality you want in a rugby player regardless of what position he plays. But the trouble is he can’t control his aggression. Missing the Lions tour is the price he pays for a history of not being able to control his aggression.

People who play aggressively, but outside of the rules – like Dylan did for Northampton on Saturday – will ultimately lose you the game. There’s plenty of scope to vent your frustrations during the game. The way to get aggression out of you in rugby is hitting someone hard within the rules and you can get a lot of satisfaction out of that. Otherwise you get the like of what happened at Twickenham – the dissatisfaction and absolute heart-break of being caught verbally abusing the referee. The minute you cross the mark is the minute you let your team down. Getting sent off, in the Premiership final, leaving your team down to 14 men – you’ve got no hope. What Dylan did doesn’t count as aggression, it counts as madness.

Keep it under control

You can be aggressive without breaking the rules. You can smash someone as hard as you can within the rules. If you can’t get your aggression out of you by being able to hit someone as hard as you can within the laws, then I’m not sure how else you can get it out of you. Sly comments to the ref aren’t the way to go. Verbally abusing somebody is not the right way to get it out of you. It’s unacceptable. It’s a cheap shot.

If there is a positive from a Lions point of view, it’s that it happened now. If Dylan had gone on tour, lost his rag in the final minute of a Test and gave away the game-losing three points, that would be unforgivable. Worst case scenario, it could have come in the last minute of the final Test with the series on the line so you could argue we’ve dodged a bullet. It’s a very bittersweet thing.

‘Sorry Dylan, we’re going to need to get that jersey back off you’ (pic: Inpho)

I played with so many brilliant players and nice guys who could just fall victim to the red mist descending. I captained for a lot of years and even I was capable of it. You’re pumped up and you have to be, but you need to stop short of breaking the rules. I didn’t always get it right and plenty of others won’t either. You have to learn as you get older.

In my first few years of playing rugby, I’ve been guilty of saying things to the referee that I shouldn’t have and I took the punishment because I deserved it. Once you get punished for it a couple of times, you start to learn how to control it. You get to a point where you realise the implications of your actions are so severe for your team that it’s not worth doing it. If you’ve got a player on your team who is likely to go too far at any point, you need to keep an eye on him, watch the situations he gets himself into. As a leader you jump in and tell him to take out his aggression in the next hit, next scrum or the next line-out.

Aggression isn’t the problem, but sometimes finding the right outlet for it is.

Shock and Law

An 11-week ban might seem harsh to a lot of people, especially people who watch football week in, week out, but given the context of it being a Premiership final and the upcoming Lions tour, they didn’t have much choice. The RFU couldn’t afford to be lenient because of the message it sends out. They’re telling everyone ‘no matter what the circumstances, no matter who you are – if you behave like this, you will be punished and your dreams may be shattered so respect the referee.’

Football might have similar rules, but they’re not enforced with anything like the consistency of rugby. And that’s the problem. If a footballer thinks he can get away with abusing the referee, he’ll do it. If a rugby player speaks to a referee in any other way than asking him a question, he knows he’ll be in trouble. I lot of the players I played with always referred to the referee as ‘Sir’ and that’s brilliant. It sets the tone for the way the referee needs to be treated in the game. People are going hell for leather and trying to knock lumps out of each other, but when it comes to the man in charge, you get ultimate respect.

It’s the bad side of football. People watch football, see these people swearing at the referee and get switched off to it. If the people who run football allow it to happen continually, then it will keep happening. What’s great about rugby is that they won’t allow you to do it, which is unfortunate in this instance if you’re Dylan Hartley. The message is ‘no matter what the circumstances, no matter who you are – if you behave like this, you will be punished and your dreams may be shattered so respect the referee.’

RORY BEST: You wouldn’t want to bump into him down a dark alley. Or a well-lit one for that matter

Rory Best was unlucky not to have been in the original squad so I don’t think the change weakens the squad in any way. He’s had a great season, Ulster have been doing well and he was one of the players I felt was unluckiest to miss out. He fits the space Hartley left perfectly. They’re slightly different types of player, but they’ve a lot of similarities and Rory brings that type of controlled aggression that’s vital on tour. Hartley had the potential to be either a match winner or a match loser and with Rory, you get mainly the ‘match-winner’ possibility because he doesn’t tend to get involved in too many silly situations.

I saw Hartley being called all sorts of names on Twitter when the incident happened on Saturday. He doesn’t seem to be popular with rugby fans outside of England, but I wouldn’t say that would be reflected in how the squad would have viewed him. There’s a simple way of telling if a player is popular with his team-mates. If you want to go around causing trouble off the pitch, then you won’t have the support of your team-mates on the field. Dylan mightn’t be everyone’s cup of tea, but with closing in on 50 England caps to his name, he looks to be popular with his team-mates.

End of the Lion for our losing streak?

There aren’t many massive shocks in the squad that Warren Gatland picked. There’s talent throughout the team, we’re going to have a very strong pack against a more suspect Australian pack – it’s shaping up nicely. They should be thinking about winning in Australia. It’s been a while since they’ve done it, but this is a great opportunity.

The Aussies don’t have the strongest bunch of forwards and in contrast, the Lions can put together a very strong pack. Warren might have an idea of his starting XV now based on club form, but things changes on tour. It’s a different environment for players and they don’t always adapt to it like you’d expect. Some guys settle into to it better and make a case for being in the team even though they may not have been at their best throughout the season. That’s what makes the next few weeks so fascinating.

Come back on Friday to discover who Gareth would have his Lions starting XV for the first Test against Australia and what we need to see against the Barbarians to show the squad is coming together.

Yeah … sorry about that.

The voice to text app was especially crazy last week and despite some valiant efforts, people with one bet in particular stumping the vast majority of people.

The answers were as follows:

#1

Tricky one, but lots of people worked it out or went very close to working it out:

The Champions League Final to be one-al at half time, 2-1 Borussia Dortmund Full-time

#2

Easy enough – as long as you know of that famous Mediterranean principality known as ‘Michael’ :

Formula One – Monaco Grand Prix; Lewis Hamilton no to be classified

#3

The app was going a bit mental at this stage:

George Vancouver to win the Irish 2,000 Guineas

#4

Lots of people went for Leinster, but obviously they were in the RaboDirect Shift Final and not the Area Vap Eimear Shift Final:

#5

Last, but by no means the least potentially offensive, this one. I have no idea what happened with the app to turn what I said into the absolutely insane gibberish you see above. Sorry, but don’t blame me, blame hastily made text to speech apps brought to the AppStore in a hurry without being properly debugged:

A penalty to be scored in the Celtic v Hibernian Scottish Cup Final

Yeah, I don’t understand how that happened either.

We got a lot of valiant attempts who ended up on 80% per cent, but just when it looked like the hat of mystery was going to be wheeled out to split the high number of people who had four out of five right, although came Neil Window with his second (and much better) attempt giving him a full house and as a result of his success – a Free £56 Bet.

Well done Neil. Unless you were part of developing the shitty app, I have no idea how you got that last one right. Thanks to everyone for playing and hopefully we’ll have more deciphering later in the week.

====================================================

A week ago I discovered that I had bought possibly the worst app in the history of the App Store, but around six days and eighteen hours ago, I discovered  I could use it to design a competition that widespread access to Wikipedia and Google couldn’t ruin. The first edition went rather well, so wanting to push  my luck to the point where it stops or at least ends in some sort of legal case, here goes for round two.

In the pub the other night, I had a brain wave as to what bets I wanted to do over the weekend. I whipped out my iPhone (which isn’t the worse thing I’ve whipped out in a public place under the influence of alcohol in fairness) and spoke to the app, in the hope it would record my gambling genius. This was the result:

Yeah – it’s mental. And judging by the bizarre ’Aryan’ reference in the last one, not only is the app faulty, it’s also slightly racist too. In order to counteract some of the strangeness here (in the same order as the bets) are the sports which the bets apply to.

Bet 1: Football
Bet 2: Motorsport
Bet 3: Horse racing
Bet 4: Rugby Union
Bet 5: Football

Your job is to decipher what the hell I was talking about. If you need a guide, you could do worse than checking out last week’s competition. That last one is tough. I was the one talking to the app and I can’t even make sense of the gibberish it spouted back to me. Best of luck with that one. I reckon all the others are manageable if you devote some brain power to them.

The prize starts out as a Free €/£50 Bet, but every time this competition gets shared on Twitter, Facebook, Google+ or LinkedIn (you can use the buttons below for that) we’ll add an extra euro/pound to the total. That should boost the fund rather substantially and you might win that prize, so you should definitely do it.

The winner will be whoever gets the most correct answers right (it pretty much needs to be the whole answer, not just bits of it to be right). In the event we get more than one person tied on the same number of correct answers, the winner shall be drawn from Aidan’s hat of mystery.

Get your answers in before 10am on Monday, May 27, and I’ll announce the winner soon after.

Send your answer to competitions@paddypower.com with the subject line ‘Stop whipping things out in public under the influence of alcohol’. The inclusion or exclusion of a subject line will make absolutely no difference to your entry.

You can use the comments section for begging for clues or general observations on life, but NO ANSWERS please. If you want to contact me, you can do so using the Twitter machine where he’s @MinistryOfGlove.

Conditions
- Customers must be over the age of 18, have a valid paddypower.com account and not be offended by racist Speech to Text apps
– Maximum size of the free bet will be €/£150
- Paddy Power decision is final and moaning will be gleefully ridiculed in public

WILKINSON SOARED – In the knock-out stages, Johnny has really delivered for Toulon (pic: Inpho)

By Aidan Elder | Chief sports writer

No Irish or English interest makes the Heineken Cup more disappointing than anything 2Unlimited have done after 1993, but it’s still going to a fascinating game between two European powerhouses. The money-bags of Clermont take on the slightly bigger money-bags of Toulon and there’s more than enough English and global superstars involved to make it interesting. Here’s a run-down of five or so bets worth having based on some questionably calculated statistics.

=========================================================

IN A NUTSHELL

• CLERMONT ARE WORTHY FAVOURITES
• EXPECTING HEROICS FROM WILKINSON IS WARRANTED
• IT’LL BE CLOSER THAN A LOCK’S FACE AND A FRONT ROW’S ASS CHEEK

=========================================================

#1 Clermont to win on the handicap – Evens -3 points

‘It’ll be close’, ‘book a place on the edge of your seat’ and ‘it’s going to be so dramatic you won’t even think about getting drunk and lighting your farts until right at the end’ are a few the things Sky Sports might tell in a bid to make you forget there’s no English or Irish teams involved and then lawn needs mowing.

It probably will be close (more about that later), but a look back over the recent history books gently nudges us in the direction of Clermont covering the three point handicap at Evens.

Over the course of their last 14 matches, Clermont have won nine times and covered a three point handicap on eight of those occasions. On the flipside of that statistical scrum, three points have nudged Toulon to handicap victory six times. There’s not much in it, but at Evens, Clermont +3 look the pick.

#2 Johnny Wilkinson to score a Drop Goal – 11/10

Johnny Wilkinson and drop goals go together like Chris Ashton and having a bizarrely high opinion of yourself. There’s undoubtedly a level of cliché about it, but it’s also backed up by the stats. Johnny has scored 10 Drop Goals in his European Cup rugby career (Heineken Cup and Amlin). Five of those have come in this season and the last and all five of those have come in knock-out matches. He scored one in both the quarter-final and semi-final this time around so when the chips are down, Johnny likes to take those chips and drop kick them over the crossbar.

• It’s 4/7 that any Drop Goal (i.e. not just from Johnny) is scored in the final
• A more tempting option is Johnny to score more Drop Goals than Brock James at 13/8

ALSO: Johnny has a 100 per cent record from place kicks in his last two Heineken Cup matches (6/6 Quarter-final and 7/7 Semi-final). He’s 6/5 for another 100 per cent record in the final.

#3 Toulon forwards to outscore Clermont forwards – 5/2

Clermont’s back line firepower is astounding. Their scoring has been based on the exploits of Nalaga, Fofana, Sivivatu and to a lesser extent Rougerie and Byrne. Because the fast guys who get all the credit seem to be doing a pretty good job, the pack haven’t had to make that much of contribution to the scoring, chipping with just 17 per cent of their Heineken Cup tries this season.

In contrast, Toulon haven’t been as free-flowing. They haven’t scored a try of any description in their last three matches and when they do, they look for a greater contribution from their pack. A whopping 48 per cent of their tries in this season’s Heineken Cup have come from the more cauliflower eared part of the team and 5/2 for the Toulon forwards to score more than the Clermont forwards looks like value.

CLER’ AND PRESENT DANGER – Morgan Parra passes while in the background the Clermont pack cheat. Probably. (pic: Inpho)

#4 Clermont to get the first yellow card – 23/10

To be the best, sometimes you need to bend the rules to the point of breaking. That’s debatable, but Richie McCaw cheats a lot and New Zealand win so it must be true. In contrast however, Toulon have gotten to the Heineken Cup decider and the upper reaches of the Top 14 by being surprisingly fair. They’ve picked up just 13 cards in 26 domestic games, making them the cleanest team in the league. In contrast, Clermont have picked 20 sin-binnings from the same amount of games and are packed full of the sort of shady characters who would pimp out their grannies if it meant getting the put in to a scrum on the ten metre line. If there is going to be a card, it’s worth going with Clermont to get it at 23/10.

#5 It should be a close one

You might think it’ll be close because the two teams are French and know each other inside out. That will contribute, but it’s also likely to be close because it’s a Heineken Cup Final and they tend to be close. 70 per cent of all Heineken Cup finals have been decided by seven points or less. The average margin of victory across those 17 finals is just under eight points, but it’s been inflated by Leinster’s last couple of above average wins. The median winning margin is just five points and that’s also what it is for finals involving two French teams. Depending on which side you fancy, the Alternative Winning Margins of Clermont to win by 1-10 points at 11/8 or Toulon by 1-10 at 9/4 look nailed on to deliver.

It seems not everyone is happy with head coach Warren Gatland’s squad selection for the Lions tour to Australia where they are seeking a first series win since 1997.

There were a number of high-profile absentees today including Jonny Wilkinson, Rory Best and Chris Robshaw as he named his 37-man crew.

This afternoon Paddy Power took a series of angry phonecalls from Lions players’ mums so we’ve decided to refund bets on those who didn’t make the squad in one of our famous Justice Payouts. Mums can be persuasive… especially rugby players’ mums.

As Wilkinson made himself unavailable some punters may fell hard done by, while there was genuine surprise that Rory Best (1/25) was being left behind. Other short prices that got chinned include Ian Madigan, Christian Wade, Ken Owens, Simon Zebo and Mike Ross.

So we thought it was only fair to refund all losing bets on players who didn’t make the cut. Except Chris Ashton. Feck that.

Ts&cs apply

BATTLE LIONS ARE DRAWN: Lions head coach, Warren Gatland poses with captain, Sam Warbuton and they’re joined by what looks to be Sebastian Chabal for some reason (pic: Inpho)

After all the speculation, now we know who can start getting the jabs and building up their tolerance of that unrelenting Aussie confidence. In keeping with his persona of a gruff, single-minded Kiwi who does what he wants, Warren Gatland named a Lions squad that won’t please most people outside of Wales, but one that suits him perfectly.

The knee-jerk media reaction to Jonny Wilkinson’s excellent performance for Toulon against Saracens in the Heineken Cup semi-final wasn’t enough to book his ticket and the absence of England captain, Chris Robshaw has raised many an eyebrow. The omission of Rory Best is another another puzzler, while the wisdom of selecting just two out-halves is being questioned, particularly in view of taking three scrum halves.

The squad in full is:

Full backs:

Halfpenny, Hogg, Kearny

Wings:

Bowe, Cuthbert, Maitland, North

Centres:

Davies, O’Driscoll, Roberts, Tuilagi

Half-backs:

Murray, Phillips, B. Youngs, Farrell, Sexton

Front rows:

Cole, Healy, Jenkins, A. Jones, Stevens, ,Vunipola, Hibbard, T. Youngs, Hartley

Locks:

Evans, Gray, Wyn Jones, O’Connell, Parling

Back rows:

Croft, Faletau, Heaslip, Lydiate, O’Brien, Tipuric, Warbuton (captain)

That’s 15 Welsh, 10 English, nine Irish and three Scots. Understandably, Twitter was rife with comment and opinion. Here’s some of the more interesting stuff:

Will Greenwood highlights the notable list of ommissions through the medium of e-sympathy:

Feel for… Wilko.. Zebo… Wade.. Morgan…. Madigan…. Care…. O'Mahony… Ryan… Grant….Brown… Robshaw…. To name a few….—
Will Greenwood (@GreenwoodRugby) April 30, 2013

Mrs. BOD wish Brian the best of luck. I think.

Woohoo @BrianODriscoll you flamin gallah! 🎉🎉🎉—
Amy Huberman (@amyhuberman) April 30, 2013

Then she congratulates the other Irish lads:

Well done @KearneyRob @TommyBowe14 @Paul_OConnell @ProperChurch @jamieheaslip @ConorMurray_9 @SeanOBrien1987 and Johnny 'No Twitter' Sexton!—
Amy Huberman (@amyhuberman) April 30, 2013

Wallaby, Quade Cooper celebrates the prospect of going head to head with Scotland’s Sean Maitland:

Hooooly omg my cousin made the lions!!!! I'm so damn proud of my lil cuz. Came along way from the back yard tokoroa boys with snotty noses!!—
Quade Cooper (@QuadeCooper) April 30, 2013

Jamie Heaslip allows himself to get a little soppy:

Dreams do come true….—
jamie heaslip (@jamieheaslip) April 30, 2013

OPTA Jonny turns to the stats to burst a few bubbles:

7 – Wales have lost their last seven matches with Sam Warburton as captain, including four against Australia. Skip. #Lions—
  (@OptaJonny) April 30, 2013

Brian Moore says something quite angrily, as you might expect:

Those Welsh fans mocking Robshaw's non-selection – what does that say about your sense of humour> Or humanity come to think of it.—
Brian Moore (@brianmoore666) April 30, 2013

Paul Kelso of Sky News humourously kicks the hornets nest:

Will make a change for Lions skipper to be doing the tip tackling as opposed to receiving it.—
Paul Kelso (@pkelso) April 30, 2013

The BBC’s Dan Roan provides a Twitter friendly biography of suprise pick, Matt Stevens:

Prop Matt Stevens is quite a story. Suspended for 2 yrs in '09 after drugs scandal, retired from England last year, now picked for Lions—
Dan Roan (@danroan) April 30, 2013

Frankie Sheahan consoles Munster’s Peter O’Mahony, Colm Tully spots a subtext:

EDITED… “@FrankieSheahan: Gutted for (my client) Peter O'Mahony….”—
Colm Tully (@colmtully) April 30, 2013

Austin Healey critiques the selection in a not especially specific way:

#lions2013 strange squad missing a spark and both 10's going to be in match squad for all tour games… tiring.. plenty on standby—
Austin Healey (@IamAustinHealey) April 30, 2013

The Welsh Dai Lama doesn’t feel too sorry for Chris Ashton:

Wouldn't it be great if Warren Gatland has a bit of banter with Chris Ashton tomorrow morning… #lions http://t.co/8Q7GhSd9io—
Dai Lama (@WelshDalaiLama) April 29, 2013

According to the odds, it hasn’t impacted the Lions chances of victory much. The tourists are still narrow 8/11 favourites to record their first series win since they visited South Africa in 1997.

As our office abacus tells us, 37 into 15 doesn’t go and there’s going to be fierce competition for a place in the starting XV. Johnny Sexton looks nailed on at out-half, as does Jamie Roberts at centre, but elsewhere the picture is less clear. The full range of selection headaches are available here.

By Paul Mallon | British and Irish Lions Tour 2013

Warren Gatland is not a man who likes leaks. The British and Irish Lions coach wants to keep things tight ahead of the squad announcement next Tuesday.

Speculation on the chosen few who will represent England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales, will reach fever pitch this weekend but Gatland has vowed to remain tight-lipped.

The Paddy Power Blog, less so.

“The players are going to find out with the rest of the rugby world,” Gatland said. “In the past we’ve texted players and there has been a bit of a leak but this time no one is going to know.”

Well, Warren, this is less ‘loose-tips’ and more customer insight.

Leinster’s Ian Madigan looks a cert to make the trip Down Under, given the activity around Paddy Power’s shops in the last week. By ‘activity’ we mean ‘trolley of cash’.

Ireland’s Jonathan Sexton (3/10), although still recovering from injury, and Owen Farrell (7/2) head the market in the battle to start in the No10 shirt.

Madigan is a distant 12/1 to get thrown in at the deep end, but a squad role looks increasingly certain.

‘THE WHOLE PACKAGE’: Ian Madigan has been praised by his Leinster team manager Guy Easterby

After reducing the loss of Sexton to Leinster, Madigan’s team manager there, the former Ireland player Guy Easterby, said he thinks he has the ‘whole package’. We hope that’s a reference to his ability on the pitch.

“What has been impressive about him is the work he does off the pitch in terms of his preparation because he realises if he gets his preparation right, that has a huge effect on how the team plays,” Easterby said. “If Ian knows where he wants to be, then he can direct the team around.

“That is where he is learning, where he is coming on. It is not just what you see in him kicking his goals, making his breaks or defending well. It is the whole package that has been the impressive thing.”

Warren will look to leader Warburton

The other key market move this week at Paddy Power has centred on the skipper role. Since Wales’ first-half mauling in the RBS 6 Nations by Ireland, Sam Warburton has grown in stature with every game. That’s been noticed in all quarters and he’s now just 2/9 to captain the Lions. Paul O’Connell has drifted from 4/5 a few weeks back to 5/1. And while Gatland will travel to watch him in Montpellier on Saturday as Munster take on Clermont in the Heineken Cup semi-final, the giant Irishman’s chances of leading the Lions look scuppered. Ain’t that a kick in the head.

As for the outright market, Paddy Power makes it 10/3 that the Lions come back from Australia with a 3-0 margin of victory which is the most popular bet with our customers. There’s been a nibble too in the last few days on British and Irish Lions 2-1 but very little interest a home series win.

@paulmallon1

[Click below for all  Paddy Power's Lions markets]

It’s a fascinating time of the four year cycle. Lots of teams are out of the running for silverware, but some players will still be giving it everything they have to impress the management. It’s like all the little annoying kids in school sticking up their hands, praying that the teacher asks them just so they can show off how great they are. Except in this case instead of ‘little annoying kids’ we have ‘grown beasts of men who could crush you at will’.

With not long to go until Warren Gatland finalises the squad he hopes will shut the Aussies’ smug gobs, players from 66.67% of the Six Nations will be trying their best to convince the Lions head coach that they’re the best man for the job.

Speculation is rife as to who will get the honour of being the one who the referee gives out to at every available opportunity that is the Lions Captaincy. Thanks to Munster’s upsetting of Harlequins, Paul O’Connell shot to surprise prominence in the last couple of weeks, but the incident in which Dave Kearney’s head viciously assaulted O’Connell’s shin may have dented his hopes. It looks like a toss-up between Sam Warbuton of Wales and Brian O’Driscoll of Ireland who are 7/5 joint favourites in the Lions Captain Betting. BOD could just shade it due to his previous experience of toss-ups – namely that time in 2005 when the All Blacks tossed the then Lions captain into the air and slammed him into the ground about a minute into that year’s series.

Across the pitch there are some fascinating contests for the starting positions. Jonathon Sexton is odds on to be the Lions’ starting outhalf, but Owen Farrell could yet benefit thanks to the Racing Metro bound star’s injury troubles. Alongside, Mike Phillips looks certain to be scrum half, but things aren’t so clear elsewhere. Five into two doesn’t go according to our abacus and that’s the scenario at centre. The odds suggest Jamie Roberts and Manu Tuilagi are the likely starters, but BOD, Brad Barritt and Jonathon Davies will all feel they’ve got a chance of squeezing their way in. On the wings, the Welsh due of Alex Cuthbert and George North are favourites to get the nod for ‘taking all the credit when everybody else did all the hard work’ duty, but the mercurial talents and swan-diving of Chris Ashton are hard to rule out. At fullback, Leigh Halfpenny is the hot favourite to start the first Test, but if Rob Kearney continues the form he showed against Munster, he could be the shrewd bet at 10/3.

PAUL OR NOTHING – O’Connell would dearly love the chance to pat a small invisible man on the head once again (pic: Inpho)

The mix between the nailed on and the still very uncertain is also continued in the pack – although in a much more burly and less flamboyant way. Ireland’s Paul O’Connell and Alun Wyn Jones are the favourites to resume their partnership at lock that began the first Test against South Africa four years ago, but it’s less clear elsewhere. Two thirds of the front row looks picked, but there’s fierce competition at hooker. Rory Best is the current favourite, but a strong end to the season from Richard Hibbard, Tom Youngs, Dylan Hartley or even Richardt Strauss would make them serious contenders for the role. The greatest competition however is probably in the back row where the Lions have an abundance of world class talent, but only three starting spots up for grabs. It speaks volumes that the betting tells us two current and one former international captains (Chris Robshaw, Jamie Heaslip and Ryan Jones) are currently outside the reckoning. If that wasn’t enough, the presence of Stephen Ferris as the 30/1 outsider of 15 shows the ferocious competition for places in the division.

But – as Gavin Henson’s career has shown us – things can change very quickly in rugby. One minute you can be the hottest property in the game and the next you’re cha-cha-cha-ing for your life on primetime television. There’s still time for the best laid plans to change and for your speculative hunches to be rewarded handsomely.

• LIONS TOUR BETTING