Rugby Union: Woodward Favourite As Lions Prepare to Name Their Coach

The Lions coach for next year's tour to New Zealand will be announced next month and the successful candidate out of England's Sir Clive Woodward and Ireland' s Eddie O'Sullivan will be allowed to choose his own back-up team.

Woodward is the favourite given England's success in recent years and the Rugby Football Union would not stand in his way, nor would it oppose his taking any of his management team to New Zealand, even though England are touring the United States and Canada that summer.

When Graham Henry was offered the position of Lions coach in 2000 he had to leave a Wales development tour of Canada to fly home to persuade the Welsh Rugby Union to let him take up the job. He was allowed to go to Australia the following year only under protest and after the tour the WRU said it would never again give permission to its national coach to take charge of the Lions. But an RFU spokesman said: "Our management board would fully support Clive if he was appointed by the Lions and he would be free to take as many of the England management team as he wanted."

The chief executive of the Lions, John Feehan, said yesterday that a decision on the coach and the manager would be made within the next month. "The process has already started," he revealed, "and while there has been the inevitable speculation, nothing has been decided yet. When the coach is named he will be free to recommend his management team to the Lions committee.

"His recommendations would have to be rubber-stamped, but what happened in the amateur era is not of any relevance now. We are aware that in the professional age a coach's reputation is on the line and it would be unfair to be too prescriptive with them."

Feehan said that the success of the World Cup last year had helped the Lions attract potential kit suppliers and sponsors.

"We have had a lot of interest," he said, "and not just because England won. That was the icing on what was already a big cake because the profile of the game was boosted by last year's Six Nations and then by the World Cup.

"We will have a shirt sponsor, a kit supplier and four other backers. One of the reasons we want everything wrapped up more than a year before the tour is that the visit to Australia in 2001 was such a commercial success that we were caught a bit on the hop, running out of replica jerseys, and we will ensure that does not happen again."

England are in Australia this summer but the Australian Rugby Union confirmed yesterday that the match will be held in Brisbane on June 26 because Sydney's Stadium Australia has been booked for an Australian rules match.

It is unlikely that Martin Johnson will be captaining England on that tour, which starts with two Tests against Henry's All Blacks. The lock will announce his international future on Saturday.

Heyneke Meyer, one of the four shortlisted contenders to replace Rudolf Straeuli as South Africa's coach, withdrew his candidacy yesterday. The remaining candidates are the Springbok sevens coach Chester Williams, Dumisani Mhani of Border Bulldogs and the former Springbok coach Andre Markgraaff, who also withdrew last month but was persuaded to allow his name to return to the list last week.

• Leinster's lock Ben Gissing and Sale's hooker Andy Titterrell have both been cited after an alleged stamping incident in last Friday's Heineken Cup game at Lansdowne Road. An independent disciplinary committee will meet in Dublin today to hear both complaints.