My reaction

Ok so the squad has been announced, now we wait for the lists and lists of journalists posting their XV lists for the first test and I won't do that this time (I may nearer the time) because that annoys me a lot! In other news, the squad is up, and my initial thoughts were of shock, then happiness, then shock again.

My first worry, which was an unofficial worry but has now come to the fore. Why oh why has Sam Warburton been elected as captain: zero Lions caps and he even turned down the Wales captaincy for the England match. Personally I would have gone with O'Connell and I think that Warburton's experience could show in a negative manner but we'll see, you never know Gatland could've hit an absolute winner here.

My initial shock was at the inclusion of Fatt Stevens, sorry I mean Matt. I mean no offence to the guy but why? A strong scrummager i admit, but i feel somebody like Euan Murray or Mike Ross may have been more deserving of their place on the tour as they have more recently played international rugby.

Another shock was the lack of Scotland players! I thought people like Ryan Grant, Kelly Brown, Tim Visser were shoe-ins as well as Hogg and Gray obviously, but apparently not. Anyway the coaching staff probably (highly doubtfully) know better than me. I was shocked at first when Maitland was added but I've realised that he can tackle, unlike most other Northern Hemisphere wingers (Ashton, Visser) so I completely understand.

Also, I was frankly astonished that Tom Wood hadn't had a flight booked for him, out of all the England players I thought he was a given but yet again, I was wrong. I'm not overly surprised (or disappointed) at the lack of Robshaw as yes, he tackles very well, but Lydiate is even more vicious in tackles and Sean o'Brien carries more than him and further. However perhaps the most surprising decision of all is the exclusion of Heineken cup runner up, Ulster captain Rory Best. But so is everyone surprised at that so we won't go into that.

Finally, the Leicester crew are well represented and we have the joint highest club amount of players with the mighty Leinster, and they're a region!