Rugby: 'Tis the season for re-serving cold turkey and as there's plenty of it about - here's one we prepared earlier.

The first swathe of Lions trials have just been completed, and as plenty of other columns have been busy speculating as to what the Test side might look like were it picked now, this column has decided to do likewise. Everybody else is doing it, so . . .

As well as offering a chance to analyse the form of all the Lions contenders, the autumn rounds of internationals also showed that the All Blacks stand as favourites to win the series. Aside from them having home advantage and aside from Clive Woodward and Co. trying to blend players from four different nations who will spend much of the next five months endeavouring to kick the living lard out of each other, the All Blacks simply look in better nick.

Their rout of France in Paris was easily the stand-out performance in November. Early days, it is true, but Graham Henry and his experienced managerial team started to blend a remodelled team with impressive results in which Daniel Carter has seamlessly switched to the outhalf position with alacrity. With Andrew Mehrtens on the wane, and Carlos Spencer's genius undermined by fallible decision-making and unreliable place-kicking, Carter looks the real deal.

Most impressive of all, perhaps, was the performance of their tight five, all the more so when Henry reunited Norm Maxwell and Chris Jack in the second row against France, while the number they did on the French scrum with prop Tony Woodcock to the fore exploded the myth that somehow the Lions' tight forwards will invariably hold the edge. And there is no open side in the northern hemisphere rivalling Richie McCaw, or Phil Waugh and George Smith come to think of it.

Besides, this theory was largely based on the period of time leading up to and including the World Cup. That era has clearly passed. England are only now beginning to come to terms with the loss through retirement and/or injury of such Test forward stalwarts as Martin Johnson, Lawrence Dallaglio, Richard Hill and Neil Back.

When it comes to Lions tours, you can't beat the old dogs for the hard road, and to this one might add the sadly premature retirement of Rob Howley. Granted, Howley's replacement at Wasps, Matt Dawson - whose overhead dummy pass and opportunistic try was the defining moment of the Lions tour seven years ago, is equally experienced. Yet even allowing for Dawson being handicapped by injury, the loss of Howley's sheer impishness and ability to do the unexpected, his service and his capacity to attack the blind side to Wasps for their back-to-back bruisers with Leicester, was striking.

Dawson might yet emerge as the English and Lions scrumhalf, though one doubts it. The point being that form is temporary, and much will change between now and June. Nonetheless, it's a more interesting test to pick a putative Lions Test team on current form rather than speculating who might come good or who might return from injury.

Jason Robinson, clearly invigorated by a summer's overdue rest and being temporarily handed the English captaincy, is one of their few World Cup heroes now rescaling the heights of their dominant two years which culminated in Johnson lifting the William Webb Ellis trophy just over one very long year ago.

He remains arguably the most dangerous broken field runner in the world game, seemingly capable of sliding through a door and its hinges. The thought of him dovetailing with Geordan Murphy, another winger cum fullback, whose form with Leicester in addition to Ireland makes him a justifiable pick, is mouth-watering.

Brian O'Driscoll is another with strong captaincy credentials, aside from his world-class ability to pierce modern-day defensive lines with no apparent slivers of light, and strictly on form one would be tempted to pick the daft-as-a-brush Gavin Henson, a mercurial talent now coming vibrantly to fruition, though a midfield axis with Mike Tindall has a more balanced look to it, especially in defence, even though the Bath man is now crocked. The November internationals gave Josh Lewsey and Gareth Thomas more chances to unveil their all-round games than Denis Hickie, with Lewsey making too many defensive howlers.

And so to outhalf, and what are Stuart Barnes and Dewi Morris on? Whatever about the latter picking Jonny Wilkinson on the pedigree rather than form, the gifted Charlie Hodgson - richly inventive but seriously flakey in the bread-and-butter stuff - doesn't qualify. Were Ronan O'Gara playing for England against the Wallabies, as he showed with ice-in-his-veins displays for Ireland, they would have closed the game out. Dwayne Peel looks the form scrumhalf right now, with Chris Cusiter one of the few Scots in contention.

For club and country, Julian White has been the star tighthead of the season thus far, with Graham Rowntree almost as punishing while - albeit right now - Shane Byrne would edge out Steve Thompson, in part because his darts would be locating the form Irish secondrow of Paul O'Connell and Malcolm O'Kelly.

In the backrow Martin Corry has taken out years of frustration and has looked damned good, but damn it, Anthony Foley has never looked better and is a born winner. Joe Worsley and, given the way the under-rated Martyn Williams is overlooked, Colin Charvis would give the backrow an ill-balanced, ill-suited look, especially when countering the brilliant McCaw.

A fit again Hill may not even be the answer, and while his Wasps form makes him the best equipped candidate, Johnny O'Connor needs more Test rugby. Who knows, Denis Leamy or even Keith Gleeson might stymie that notion, but the Lions desperately need an authentic openside to emerge in the Six Nations.

The team, based purely on form, and hence subject to considerable change, should look like this.

LIONS' TESTXV

(based on current form)

15 Jason Robinson (England)

14 Geordan Murphy (Ireland)

13 Brian O'Driscoll (Ireland, capt)

12 Mike Tindall (England)

11 Gareth Thomas (Wales)

10 Ronan O'Gara (Ireland)

9 Dwayne Peel (Wales)

1 Graham Rowntree (England)

2 Shane Byrne (Ireland)

3 Julian White (England)

4 Malcolm O'Kelly (Ireland)

5 Paul O'Connell (Ireland)

6 Joe Worsley(England)

8 Anthony Foley (Ireland)

7 Colin Charvis (Wales).

Replacements: Josh Lewsey (England), Gavin Henson (Wales), Chris Cusiter (Scotland); Steve Thompson (England), John Hayes (Ireland), Brent Cockbain (Wales), Martin Corry (England).