The 29-year-old has been replaced by former Leicester Tigers second row Leo Cullen, with plenty of speculation also surrounding his captaincy duties with his country following the appointment of Declan Kidney as Ireland coach.

Although O'Driscoll, who led the Lions on their last tour to New Zealand three years ago, has claimed he is still excited by the thought of captaining the national team, both he and Kidney have hinted that he may be better off simply concentrating on his own game.

"It's something I have truly loved for the last five or six years and it's something that I still have great ambitions towards," said O'Driscoll, who was injured just minutes into the Lions' first Test defeat against the All Blacks in 2005.

"But I certainly want to be playing the right style of rugby, as I was as captain, and that's the challenge.

"The captaincy isn't something that concerns me at the moment. There's a long way to November and all I can concentrate on doing is going out there and trying to get back to the standard I expect from myself."