ENGLAND's coach Jack Rowell yesterday mounted a vigorous defence of Phil de Glanville, Tony Underwood and Jon Sleightholme, the three England backs who were left out of the 62-man Lions squad named last week.

Rowell, who admitted he had spoken to Fran Cotton, the Lions manager, about the timing of his announcement, praised the individual qualities of England's try-scoring trio, suggesting it was still possible for them to win places on the forthcoming Lions tour to South Africa.

De Glanville, the England captain, who hinted last week that he may have been excluded for reasons of rugby politics, received a glowing testimonial from Rowell. The England coach compared his skipper to the former Wales and Lions captain John Dawes, who led his country to a Grand Slam in 1970 and the Lions to a celebrated Test series triumph in New Zealand a year later.

"Phil has shown good tactical leadership since he was appointed and, like John Dawes, he has the ability to put into effect the ideas we develop with the coaches in training," said Rowell. "The England team is only starting to exercise its talents and de Glanville has played a significant role in that process in our recent matches."

Rowell added that "an olive branch would be held out" to the Lions selectors by the England three-quarters who had been overlooked. "Knowing the three individuals as I do, I would have thought their exclusion would make them all the more determined to win places," he explained. "I thought Tony Underwood played his best-ever game of rugby against Ireland since he first turned out for Barnard Castle Under-13s, which was some time ago.

Rowell also paid tribute to the recent performances of Sleightholme who, like Underwood, scored two tries in Dublin and Paul Grayson, the England out-half who has been included in the Lions squad.