Mike Tindall hopes he will achieve his last burning ambition of becoming a British and Irish Lion.
World Cup winner looking for final Lions opportunity
Mike Tindall will tune in to
Sky Sports News on Tuesday to discover whether he will get the chance of becoming a British and Irish Lion.
The Gloucester and England centre has won the World Cup, Grand Slams and Six Nations titles but has missed the last two Lions tours - to Australia in 2001 and New Zealand four years ago - through injury.
So when Lions manager Gerald Davies announces the squad for this summer's assault on world champions South Africa, Tindall will be glued to the screen.
He said: "I think I'll be close and obviously I hope I make it. I will certainly be tuning in to find out and if I do then it will be amazing.
"It is the only thing I have missed off the resume and I would really like to go and play a part in it. It is a massive honour to be a Lion.
"It has been a frustration of mine that I have missed the chance to be selected because of injury in the last two tours."
But Tindall will switch on the television more in hope than expectation. Another injury, this time to his knee suffered in the EDF Energy Cup semi-final, has paused his season at just the wrong time.
Tindall was left watching from the sidelines as Gloucester were smashed 50-12 by the Cardiff in Saturday's final - with direct Lions rivals Tom Shanklin and Jamie Roberts two of the Blues' chief destroyers.
Injury
"I am not really nervous. I think it will be pretty hard for me to go realistically. If they take four centres, the four that spring to mind are Shanks, Jamie, Riki Flutey and Brian O'Driscoll," said Tindall.
"This injury has not really helped. All those games, like against Cardiff at the weekend and if I had stayed on the field for the whole semi-final against the Ospreys, you need to play to stay fresh in people's minds.
"That side hasn't helped me either - but you can always have your fingers crossed and if I get the call it would be awesome. I would be in there like Flynn."
Munster's talismanic lock Paul O'Connell is set to be named captain and Tindall rates him as a natural born leader in the mould of Martin Johnson.
In the same way as O'Connell is not Ireland captain, Johnson was not England skipper when he was chosen by McGeechan to lead the Lions on their victorious 1997 tour.
Tindall said: "What you see if what you get with Paul O'Connell. You look at people like Johnno who was like that, Paul will always lead from the front.
"It is not all about words, he is more about what goes on on the field. That is the sort of thing you need when you are in South Africa.
"It will be a tough place to go and you need the forwards leading by example up front and he will do a good job of it."
