Rose-tinted glasses

Former England international and current Sunday Telegraph rugby correspondent Paul Ackford is in no doubt about the XV players that should make up the Lions team for the first test in Australia this summer. He summed up his thesis on the Lions thus: "The first Test looks like a job for a successful side to me. England in Lions shirts."

The statement was preceded by a 1,000-word homily to England. Ackford advocated early on in the article: "The bold move would be to take the team which made up the England match squad against France, include the injured Dan Luger and Danny Grewcock and one or two others, and travel with the intention of shoving an England line-up into the first Test against the world champions on June 30th."

Firstly, it must be acknowledged that England produced outstanding rugby in this season's Six Nations championship and the previous winter against Southern Hemisphere sides.

However Ackford's argument is flawed. He basically went on to assert that it is impossible to improve the present England team with any contenders from their Celtic cousins, dismissing the evidence of the 1997 Lions tour to South Africa and the various claims of Scott Quinnell, Keith Wood, Tom Smith, Scott Murray and Brian O'Driscoll. He just stopped short of saying that Clive Woodward should coach the team.

One hopes that Ackford may soon realise that it is time to wake up and smell something other than the roses.