All three men were integral parts of the Scottish squad which took the final Five Nations championship in 1999, although John Leslie is only now starting to recapture that form.

While Scotland, Wales and Ireland have all trawled through lists of ancestors sometimes not bothering even to check the facts too carefully to bolster their playing strength in recent years, ‘foreigners’ in the British Lions camps would be a rare phenomenon.

However, Lenihan insists there would be no problem bringing any of the three stars into the squad and insists their introduction would not devalue the Lions jersey.

"If a player is qualified to play for one of the Home Nations, that makes them eligible for the Lions as far as I am concerned," said Lenihan.

"That trio have been playing for Scotland for the past three years so I don’t see a particular problem.

"Australia and New Zealand have both had players in their teams who have not been born in those countries."

England’s rugby league recruit Jason Robinson and Scotland skipper Andy Nicol were the two big-name absentees from Henry’s enlarged party, who will be supported by 10,000 fans on their three-Test tour Down Under to face the world champions.

"They might have the Tri Nations in the southern hemisphere and we have the Five Nations in Europe, but a Lions tour is simply huge," said Lenihan.

"John Eales has said he might have retired but for this summer’s tour.

"Graham Henry is fully aware of what the British Lions means to people in the northern hemisphere, its history and the challenge of living up to it.

"Both myself and coach Andy Robinson have been involved with the Lions before, so we have a good balance in the management team.

"Australia are the world champions and Tri Nations winners so I suppose you could say this represents the final frontier."