Former England captain Lawrence Dallaglio is on a shortlist of five candidates to skipper the Lions in Australia in 2001.

Each of the three men who have led England in the last 18 months were among the names discussed by Lions coach Graham Henry , manager Donal Lenihan and assistant coach Andy Robinson.

Matt Dawson, who lifted the Six Nations Championship trophy for England this year, and Martin Johnson, captain of the last Lions tour in 1997, joined Ireland's Keith Wood and Wales's Dai Young on the shortlist. Only Scotland, who appointed New Zealand-born centre John Leslie as their skipper last year, were unrepresented.

"I think captaining any side is crucial," Henry told the Sunday Telegraph. "There are obviously some talented candidates and I guess that decision is not going to be easy."

The Lions' three wise men met in Cork in Ireland three weeks ago, in the first of a series of getting-to-know-you sessions.

Robinson and Henry met briefly in Auckland some years ago when the former Bath coach was on a fact-finding mission. More recently, Henry travelled to Scotland to consult with Ian McGeechan and Jim Telfer, the successful coaching partnership behind the 1997 series win in South Africa.

Henry is said to be keen on the week-long team-bonding exercise used by the '97 Lions before they left, and Telfer has given Henry a vote of confidence after their meeting.

On the captaincy subject, Telfer said: "In 1997 we tried not to differentiate between a midweek and a Test team at all but there were some players we looked at as certainties, most of them ex-Lions, people like Scott Gibbs and Jeremy Guscott who had done well on previous trips.

"That was also our rationale behind picking Martin Johnson. We wanted someone who was certain to be in the side. We made that decision very early on and Graham has taken that on board."