Warren Gatland announced his 41-man British & Irish Lions squad today in West London in front of assembled media. A party of 16 Englishmen, 12 Welshmen, 11 Irishmen and two Scots make up the party.

Sam Warburton becomes only the second player, after Martin Johnson, to lead the Lions on two occasions and Maro Itoje will have the honour of holding BiL as the youngest tourist at 22.

Although the squad had been heavily leaked in advance of the announcement, there were a few shocks. Jared Payne was included after his impressive showing against England and Ross Moriarty rewarded for some explosive performances for Wales last summer in New Zealand and the Six Nations.

Worcester Warriors, with Ben Te’o and Exeter Chiefs, with Jack Nowell are clubs who have never boasted Lions before.

Here is the squad:

Back three

Stuart Hogg (Glasgow Warriors and Scotland)
Leigh Halfpenny (Toulon and Wales)
George North (Northampton Saints and Wales)
Liam Willams (Scarlets and Wales)
Tommy Seymour (Glasgow Warriors and Scotland)
Anthony Watson (Bath and England)
Jack Nowell (Exeter Chiefs and England

Centres

Elliot Daly (Wasps and England)
Robbie Henshaw (Leinster and Ireland)
Ben Te’o (Worcester Warriors and England)
Jared Payne (Ulster and Ireland)
Jonathan Joseph (Bath and England)
Jonathan Davies (Scarlets and Wales)

Fly-halves

Jonathan Sexton (Leinster and Ireland)
Dan Biggar (Ospreys and Wales)
Owen Farrell (Saracens and England)

Scrum-halves

Rhys Webb (Ospreys and Wales)
Ben Youngs (Leicester Tigers and England)
Conor Murray (Munster and Ireland

Forwards

Wise men: The Lions coaches talk to the assembled media

Props

Dan Cole (Leicester Tigers and England)
Tadhg Furlong (Leinster and Ireland)
Kyle Sinckler (Harlequins and England)
Mako Vunipola (Saracens and England)
Joe Marler (Harlequins and England)
Jack McGrath (Leinster and Ireland)

Hookers

Rory Best (Ulster and Ireland)
Ken Owens (Scarlets and Wales)
Jamie George (Saracens and England)

Locks

Iain Henderson (Ulster and Ireland)
Maro Itoje (Saracens and England)
Alun Wyn Jones (Ospreys and Wales)
George Kruis (Saracens and England)
Courtney Lawes (Northampton Saints and England)

Flankers

Ross Moriarty (Gloucester and Wales)
Sean O’Brien (Leinster and Ireland)
Peter O’Mahony (Munster and Ireland)
CJ Stander (Munster and Ireland
Justin Tipuric (Ospreys and Wales)
Sam Warburton (Cardiff Blues and Wales, capt)

No 8

Taulupe Faletau (Bath and Wales)
Billy Vunipola (Saracens and England)