Martin Johnson names his five ‘certainties’ for 2021 Lions squad

He's whittled down his list of contender to just five, saying: "They (coaches) won't be picking off 2018, 2019 and 2020. These guys will have to be doing it in 2021," revealed Johnson.

"But these guys have a lot of credit in the bank and it seems likely they'll be in the squad."

Here’s who Johnson, who led the Lions to victory in the 1997 tour of South Africa, believes is a certainty for Warren Gatland’s squad in 2021.

"He's been consistently excellent for England for a long time now, and I'm sure he will be up there in the thick of it."

“There are questions marks there (over his defence) but I think he’s in my definite category in that he’ll go on the tour and is favourite to wear the 15 shirt,” said

"He's got it all as a player. I could see from watching him at club level early in career that he was a fine athlete - at a level which we might not have seen in the second row before, but he's taken that on to the next level since."

"You are only looking at playing four or five games on the tour so if he's got the form, no, it's not an issue, and he's certainly got the experience. Willie John (McBride) was what - 33, 34 when he did it?."

"If you give him some space or a run to the line, he’ll pull it off. He played well, and at times against Ireland did some things that you wouldn’t associate him with doing, such as putting in some big hits.”