THE Lions are getting ready to roar, meeting up at Wales' Vale of Glamorgan headquarters today and facing Argentina in a historic pre-tour match next Monday before flying out two days later to take on the All Blacks in their own back yard.

Eleven matches, including three Tests, will push the Lions to the full, and though nationalities are buried when it comes to a Lions tour, try telling the fans that.

Many thousands will be going, so many in fact that some are flying in from Australia for the Tests while others are having to stay in liners off the coast with house full signs posted up all over New Zealand.

One thing for sure, the old rivalry between Wales and England is bound to surface, British Lions tour or not.

Will it be Stephen Jones or Jonny Wilkinson at outside half? Will it be Martyn Williams or Neil Back at openside flanker? Will it be Dwayne Peel or Matt Dawson at scrum half? Will it be Gavin Henson or Will Greenwood (or Gordon D'Arcy) at inside centre?

The great selection debate will be on from the moment coach Sir Clive Woodward names his team for the match against Argentina before the party even leave.

And it will intensify once the invasion force (now 71 strong in total) lands in New Zealand later in the week.

Woodward is his own man for sure, he will know exactly what he wants and has probably got a pretty good idea of his Test team even now.

It will all boil down to the style of play he wants to adopt - the exciting Welsh way which lit up the Six Nations Championship this year or the more pragmatic approach which earned England the World Cup 18 months ago under his baton, or possibly a mixture of both, laced with a liberal supply of the style only Brian O'Driscoll can supply.

As Gareth Edwards, the greatest of them all, said in his interviews with the Argus, it's going to be an intriguing prospect.

Even he's wondering what Sir Clive will do about his outside half. Jones has been far and away the best in the Six Nations, maturing rapidly since moving to France and the rock upon which Wales based their first Grand Slam triumph for 27 years.

Wilkinson didn't feature, of course, because he wasn't fit and hasn't been since landing England the World Cup with that memorable late dropped goal in Australia.

He has suffered from a catalogue of injuries since then, notably to an arm and knee, but all appears well at last and after coming through a couple of games for club side Newcastle he was a late inclusion for the Lions.

So with time now short will Woodward pick according to current form, in which case it must be Jones for the Lions Test spot, or will he be guided by past form and reputation in which event he will go for Wilkinson?

Some dilemma.

Likewise, does he go for his faithful former servant Neil Back, who quit international rugby a year ago and played no part in the Six Nations, or will he go for the form player, the openside voted the player of the tournament - Martyn Williams?

Again, there is the prospect of real dissention, among fans at least, if he falls back on old favourites and overlooks the form Welsh players.

Much the same goes at scrum half where Peel was clearly the best player in the championship this year, but despite the presence of Gareth Cooper and Chris Cusiter on the tour as well, will Woodward fall back on another old favourite in Dawson?

More uproar this side of the Severn Bridge, and among rival fans Down Under, I would suggest, if he does. The case of Henson is a bit more difficult. He may well have been earmarked as the centre partner to Lions captain O'Driscoll after a highly impressive first full Six Nations, notably putting the boot into England in the first match which set Wales on their way.

But since then, while others have been on their own fitness schedules back in Wales, Henson has been holidaying in the South of France with a certain Charlotte Church as a different way of recuperating from a groin strain.

He doesn't have to behave like a monk, of course, but whether this form of preparation for a Lions tour impresses Sir Clive is another matter.

Maybe he'll have to do a little more than the rest in the warm-up matches in New Zealand to make himself worthy of a Test start.

So even now there's obviously going to be a battle of wills, mainly between Wales and England, for those Test spots.

I wouldn't mind betting Woodward goes for the men who have done it for him before, which means players like Dallaglio, Back and Hill being the Test back row, Wilkinson at outside half and maybe even Dawson and Greenwood, Jason Robinson, Josh Lewsey, Julian White and Ben Kay involved as well.

In other words, more like an England reunion than a British Lions tour. If that's the case, sit back and watch the fireworks start - off the pitch!