British and Irish Lions head coach, Ian McGeechan, has confirmed that he will travel to South Africa with just the 36 players at his disposal.
 
Speculation had been mounting that McGeechan would announce a replacement for the injured Tom Shanklin, with Ireland's Gordon D'Arcy tipped to take the Cardiff centre's place.
 
However, McGeechan put an end to all the speculation on Monday morning as the players assembled at Pennyhill Park in Surrey.
Shanklin's chances of playing a part in the tour to South Africa were scuppered on May 6 when he dislocated his shoulder while on club duty against the Newport-Gwent Dragons in the Magners League.
 
"When we selected the extra player back in April we were really trying to cover all our bases regarding the Heineken Cup final, where we could have been without 16 players," McGeechan explained.
 
"As it's transpired, for the first two tour games we can cover the squad and really we want to give the opportunity and the responsibility to the players who are there to try to fill that role.
 
"Going back to 36 just gives us the chance to give players and combinations a bit more game time which is so important with so little time before the first test," added McGeechan.
 
Alan Quinlan and Euan Murray were two the only two players not present on Monday morning.
 
To tour manager, Gerald Davies' annoyance, Murray was not released by his club, Northampton Saints, ahead of Friday night's European Challenge Cup final while Quinlan is serving a 12-week suspension following an ERC disciplinary hearing last week in Dublin.
 
Interestingly, McGeechan and Davies revealed that the Lions will not stand in the way of Quinlan's intended appeal, although the head coach announced that he did know who would replace the Munster flanker if his appeal was dismissed.