British and Irish Lions Australia 2013 Tour squad Next stop Australia: Lions coach Warren Gatland and captain Sam Warburton. There will be no real surprise in the Wallabies camp to this 37-man British and Irish Lions squad. Not even in the selection of Sean Maitland, the New Zealand winger given his debut at the Crusaders by a certain Robbie Deans. But it is a squad that, nonetheless, will have their respect. Coach Warren Gatland has surveyed the menu in front of him and opted for red meat - large slabs of it. And there are two 'late' inclusions - players that did not feature in the Six Nations - that catch the eye: Irish second-rower Paul O'Connell and Welsh blindside breakaway Dan Lydiate. These are two of the hardest men on the northern scene, and relatively fresh after coming back from injury-enforced breaks. You suspect Gatland would have stood on front of the plane on the Heathrow tarmac to buy them enough time for them to board. It is a statement of the obvious that the Lions are going to take the Wallabies on up front, particularly in the middle row. The omission of the likes of the athletic, skilled youngster Joe Launchbury - who enjoyed a tremendous finish to 2012 for England but by all reports fatigued as the season went on - and the presence of O'Connell brings steel, experience and nous to that department. The Wallabies' decision to appoint Nathan Sharpe in a coaching capacity to help with that area of their game immediately looks like a wise one. Leading the Lions: Sam Warburton. It is also a Lions squad that recognises the strengths in Robbie Deans' options, particularly with the selection of two specialist openside breakaways in Sam Warburton and Justin Tipuric, while powerful Irishman Sean O'Brien could also be activated from the bench to assist in the gargantuan task of shifting George Smith, Michael Hooper or Liam Gill off the ball. The implicit compliment in those selections will be reciprocated by Deans when he names his No.10 and No.12. Strong shoulders will be needed in those Wallabies jerseys to cope with the volume and size of the traffic coming their way from the huge Lions midfielders. The accusations will fly that Gatland has gambled by selecting a Welsh captain, Sam Warburton, and 14 of his compatriots in his squad. After all, their recent record against the Wallabies is poor, losing six straight in the past 19 months, some of them in a fashion that suggested the Welsh have a mental stumbling block against Australia when the winning line is in sight. The truth is that an alternative approach was shut down in the last round of the Six Nations, when the Welsh comprehensively blasted England off the park, but Gatland is well aware of the crux of the allegation. When Fairfax Media put it to him in March that the Welsh inability to get the job done against the Wallabies was a potential Lions issue, it was the only time in the conversation that a little bit of edge entered his voice. They would carry no baggage, he insisted. In fact, the run of narrow losses were an essential part of the group's growth. "The only way you improve and learn is from adversity," Gatland said at the time. That's possibly where a huge amount of learning has taken place for a lot of those guys. That's a learning process for a lot of those [Welsh] players and I think that process is potentially what got them over the line against England [in the Six Nations]. The last three [Wales] games against Australia, being in front in all three games and in two of them losing them right on full time ... I think they'll learn from that. Looking ahead: Lions coach Warren Gatland. We now know the strength, or otherwise, of that proposition will go a long way to deciding this series. BRITISH AND IRISH LIONS SQUAD: Fullbacks: Leigh Halfpenny (Wales), Stuart Hogg (Scotland), Robert Kearney (Ireland). Wings: Tommy Bowe (Ireland), Alex Cuthbert (Wales), Sean Maitland (Scotland), George North (Wales). Centers: Jonathan Davies (Wales), Brian O'Driscoll (Ireland), Jamie Roberts (Wales), Manu Tuilagi (England). Flyhalves: Owen Farrell (England), Jonathan Sexton (Ireland). Scrumhalves: Conor Murray (Ireland), Mike Phillips (Wales), Ben Youngs (England). No.8s: Toby Faletau (Wales), Jamie Heaslip (Ireland). Flankers: Tom Croft (England), Dan Lydiate (Wales), Sean O'Brien (Ireland), Justin Tipuric (Wales), Sam Warburton (Wales, captain). Locks: Ian Evans (Wales), Richie Gray (Scotland), Alun-Wyn Jones (Wales), Paul O'Connell (Ireland), Geoff Parling (England). Props: Dan Cole (England), Cian Healy (Ireland), Gethin Jenkins (Wales), Adam Jones (Wales), Matt Stevens (England), Mako Vunipola (England). Hookers: Dylan Hartley (England), Richard Hibbard (Wales), Tom Youngs (England). Poll: Who will triumph in the Lions series? British & Irish Lions Total votes: 610.