British and Irish Lions squad announced

The squad for the British and Irish Lions tour of South Africa has been announced. Paul O'Connell beat off the challenge of countryman Brian O'Driscoll for the captaincy, with a record 14 Irish players named in the squad of 36. You can find the official announcement of the Lions squad on the official site of the British and Irish Lions. You will be able to follow the Lions tour, which begins in June, on the web. Details of the Lions tour schedule and even an interactive tour map can be found on the official site. Sky Sports will be showing live coverage of the games, and Sky customers can also watch online as well as on their TVs. The BBC will have live audio and text commentary of all the games on the BBC Sport website. Previous Lions tours to South Africa have proved controversial - the 1974 tour was marred by violence. British Lions 1974 South Africa tour - video The full squad to travel to South Africa: Backs : Lee Byrne (Wales), Rob Kearney (Ireland), Shane Williams (Wales), Leigh Halfpenny (Wales), Ugo Monye (England), Luke Fitzgerald (Ireland), Tommy Bowe (Ireland), Tom Shanklin (Wales), Jamie Roberts (Wales), Brian O'Driscoll (Ireland), Keith Earls (Ireland), Riki Flutey (England), Ronan O'Gara (Ireland), Stephen Jones (Wales), Mike Phillips (Wales), Harry Ellis (England), Tomas O'Leary (Ireland). Forwards : Jamie Heaslip (Ireland), Andy Powell (Wales), David Wallace (Ireland), Stephen Ferris (Ireland), Alan Quinlan (Ireland), Joe Worsley (England), Martyn Williams (Wales), Alun Wyn Jones (Wales), Paul O'Connell (Ireland) (captain), Donncha O'Callaghan (Ireland), Simon Shaw (England), Nathan Hines (Scotland), Gethin Jenkins (Wales), Adam Jones (Wales), Andrew Sheridan (England), Phil Vickery (England), Euan Murray (Scotland), Jerry Flannery (Ireland), Lee Mears (England), Matthew Rees (Wales).