Having a variety of options played a big role in head coach Warren Gatland's selection of his squad for the British & Irish Lions tour of New Zealand and that is borne out by the scrum-halves chosen.

The No.9 jersey is one of the most hotly-contested this year and the fact they come from three different nations is a testament to how outstanding they've all been in recent years.

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They also bring with them plenty of experience, with 159 international caps between them, and an attacking threat that is vital if the Lions are to outgun the world champion All Blacks this summer.

Ireland's Conor Murray and England's Ben Youngs have both beaten them with their respective countries in the past, while Wales' Rhys Webb has a sharpness around the fringes that could rival that of the All Blacks' Aaron Smith.

When asked what he looks for in a scrum-half, Gatland said: "Obviously the ability of our nines to be a running threat is going to be important.

"They're going to have to be accurate and their kicking game is going to have to be spot on. I think their communication with the forwards is going to be paramount as well.

"Looking at the half-backs, in terms of the nine and the tens, they're all going to all fight pretty hard in terms of who's going to be the lucky one to be selected in the Test series because there's potentially the ability for all of them to do that."

All three have had the benefit of working with Lions assistant coach Rob Howley in the past - in Webb's case from his times with Wales - while Murray and Youngs were both on the successful tour of Australia in 2013.

HOWLEY’S KNOWLEDGE

The fact that Howley, a former scrum-half himself, can pass on his own experience of touring with the Lions as a player in 1997 and 2001, when he played in the first two Tests, is an added bonus for them.

Howley said: "I think the [RBS 6 Nations] Championship showed that, in terms of the nines and tens, there's a lot of depth, there's a lot of talent.

"When you're going to New Zealand you need experience. A half-back for me is a navigator that controls the game, where the nine is the heartbeat.