Johnson may give last Lions roar

Martin Johnson has refused to rule himself out of next summer’s Lions tour to New Zealand, admitting “anything is possible”.

Lions head coach Clive Woodward revealed earlier this month that players did not have to be competing in the Test arena to come under consideration for a place in his 44-strong squad.

Former international skippers Rob Howley and Bryan Redpath have already made themselves available and are sure to come under serious consideration given a perceived dearth of stand-out scrum-halves.

But, given his Lions pedigree, Johnson would be an automatic selection were he to convince Woodward during the forthcoming season that he still has the necessary hunger and ability.

And the 34-year-old lock – who has enjoyed three tours with the cream of rugby, skippering the previous two – has yet to dismiss the idea.

“Going to New Zealand is not in my plans but anything is possible. But as it stands I doubt it. I’ve not really thought about it – it’s not on my current radar,” he said.

Johnson ended his international career in January after steering England to World Cup glory and his playing future at Leicester will now come under the microscope.

He has agreed a new contract which will keep him at Welford Road for another season but the towering second row has not given consideration to what will happen when that expires

“I don’t know whether this will be my last year. I feel all right at the moment but I’m not making any decisions right now. The club will have to know at some stage of the season what I intend to do and I’ll tell them,” he said.

Leicester are bidding to avoid an undesirable hat-trick this season after failing to land any silverware for the previous two years – a massive comedown for a club that previously won four consecutive Zurich Premiership titles and defended the Heineken Cup.

Their last campaign was hamstrung by World Cup call-ups which denied director of rugby Dean Richards an entire forward pack until December, plunging the Tigers to the wrong end of the Premiership table.

Richards paid for the failure with his job – critics pointed out he should have made better provision for the World Cup period – and was replaced by his assistant John Wells.

With Wells in charge, Leicester enjoyed a remarkable revival and finished the season as the Premiership’s fourth team, beating Sale in the play-off final to clinch a coveted Heineken Cup place.