Jonny Wilkinson could miss out on Lions tour Former British and Irish Lions coach Sir Ian McGeechan does not expect Jonny Wilkinson to be in the frame for Australia when Warren Gatland names his touring party on Tuesday. Gatland is tipped to go with Ireland's Jonny Sexton and England's Owen Farrell as his first-choice stand-offs and, although England's World Cup match-winner might have been a useful back-up, McGeechan reckons he will miss out due to the timing of the departure. Former Newcastle No 10 Wilkinson could play for Toulon in the French Top 14 final on 1 June - the day of the Lions first match against the Barbarians in Hong Kong. "He won't have the chances to be really part of the build-up," said McGeechan, coach of the last successful Lions party in South Africa in 1997 and who almost repeated the feat in 2009. In 2009 we didn't say we were preparing for each team, we were preparing for South Africa five weeks down the line. You use the five weeks as preparation and you've got everybody involved in that. If you've got players missing for two or three weeks out of that process, then it becomes very difficult. McGeechan, 66, who will be making his eighth Lions tour, this time as an ambassador for sponsors FirstCape, believes Gatland could include some surprise picks. Selection is a very interesting exercise. I think there will be some interesting mixes. Warren Gatland has never been afraid of making some interesting calls and I'm sure there will be some next week," added McGeehan. Bookies have stopped taking bets on the captaincy after a groundswell of support for Wales forward Sam Warburton and McGeechan believes he would an obvious choice to get the nod ahead of Irish duo Brian O'Driscoll and Paul O'Connell. McGeechan picked O'Connell to lead the party in 2009 and believes his impressive display on his return from injury for Munster in their Heineken Cup quarter-final win over Harlequins ought to have clinched his place in the squad, if not as captain. McGeechan said: "I think Warren will be looking at Sam Warburton because he's worked with him. He knows him well, he's had him as his captain in the World Cup with Wales and you do have to have that captain-coach relationship. But Michael Lynagh, who played for the Wallabies in their 2-1 series defeat to Finlay Calder's 1989 Lions, believes O'Connell is the outstanding candidate. "I guess the favourite is Warburton, but for me it has to be Paul O'Connell," he said at the launch of Specsavers" sponsorship of the tour match officials. You have Scottish, Welsh and English represented in the management and no Irish. Appointing O'Connell would balance things up.