Jurassic internationals set alarm bells ringing for Lions

Leicester's 27-19 demise at the hands of French aristocrats Stade Toulouse in yesterday's Heineken Cup semifinal in the English Midlands contained alarming portents for this year's Lions.

The sight of the once mighty English club being run ragged by their opponents, and some famous internationals either limping off or puffing and panting in a vain attempt to keep up, should have furrowed Clive Woodward's brow.

The weekend Heineken Cup semifinals provided confirmation of the suspicion many have harboured for some time; that the power base in European rugby has crossed the Channel and is now in France. This could not have happened at a worse time for the Lions.

No wonder that Lions captain Brian O'Driscoll hinted only last week that he might consider a fresh challenge somewhere else in the near future, and the prospect of learning a foreign language did not faze him. Unless O'Driscoll was talking about Wales or Italy, which you might consider are somewhat outside bets, we must surmise that France is the country he covets.

But at Leicester yesterday, the clear evidence of English rugby's current decline was made manifest.

Furthermore, two of the new Lions, flanker Lewis Moody and loose head prop Graham Rowntree, were forced to retire early. Rowntree isn't likely to play again this season because of knee ligament trouble and Moody is said to face at least three weeks out with an ankle injury.

Meanwhile, in another English Premiership game, Bath's new Lions loose head prop Matt Stevens suffered so serious a knee injury that he was ruled out for the remainder of the season. Most revealingly, his club's rugby director, Australian John Connolly, said afterwards in a grave voice: "I don't want to comment about Matt's chances of making the Lions tour".

Already some of those selected for the Lions may not even make it to the first aircraft steps on this tour. And of those who do, some must carry the knowledge that time has surely caught up with them.

Neil Back looked like his ageing leader Martin Johnson against Toulouse - raging against the dying of the light, but largely ineffective. Time was when Back would have slowed to a snails speed the loose ball so craved by Toulouse's speedy, adventurous threequarters. But at 36, Back is no longer able to get to the parts other flankers could not reach. He was largely anonymous when the flying Frenchmen got the ball wide. In fact, he's being outpaced to most of the action. And at 36, is that any great surprise?

Back was just one of those who was made to look far beyond his sell-by date, by the pace of the Toulousains. Julian White, the tight head prop on whom the Lions will base their scrummaging effort, looked distinctly uncomfortable on a few occasions against Toulouse's renowned loose head, Jean-Baptiste Poux. White did improve but those cauliflower ears among New Zealand's prop forward fraternity ought to prick up at that news.

Toulouse were far quicker and able to meet Leicester's fire with plenty of cannonades of their own, thanks to the presence of players such as Ireland's Trevor Brennan.

The former back row man played at lock and was a major reason for Toulouse's victory because he matched the power of the Leicester pack up front. Yet the aggressive Brennan, good enough to play at the highest levels of the French game in the opinion of people like Toulouse rugby director Guy Noves, couldn't make a Lions squad totalling 44 (or will that be 47?).

Increasingly, his omission looks like arguably the greatest howler of the lot by Woodward and his fellow selectors.

This 2005 Lions squad is shot through with flawed selections. But what emerged this weekend in the Northern Hemisphere was that even some of those whose selection had been welcomed, either may not go because of injury or should not be there because they're over the hill.

New Zealand may have a problem at lock, but if that were the sum total of Woodward's weaknesses, he'd be a happy chap.

Stade Toulouse will play Stade Francais, who beat Biarritz 20-17 with an injury-time Christophe Dominici try in Paris, in the Heineken Cup final in Edinburgh on May 22.

* Peter Bills is a rugby writer for Independent News & Media in London