LONDON :England rookie Henry Pollock's selection was the highlight of the British & Irish Lions squad announcement on Thursday as the 20-year-old flanker, with just 30 minutes of international rugby under his belt, earned a slot in Andy Farrell's squad.

Pollock, who was playing for England under-20s earlier this year, has made an irresistible case since then, capping it off with a superb display for Northampton against Leinster in front of Farrell last week and will now be on the plane to Australia.

After confirming the widely-expected appointment of Maro Itoje as captain, the rest of the tourists were revealed in alphabetical order as forwards, then backs.

Pollock's name got the loudest cheer from the near-2,000 fans who paid 65 pounds ($86.68) to watch the event at London's O2 Arena.

There was no place for Andy Farrell's son Owen or Ireland's Sam Prendergast as the three flyhalf berths went to Marcus Smith, Fin Smith and Finn Russell.

Lions Squad:

FORWARDS

Tadhg Beirne

Ollie Chessum

Jack Conan

Luke Cowan-Dickie

Scott Cummings

Tom Curry

Ben Earl

Zander Fagerson

Tadhg Furlong

Ellis Genge

Maro Itoje (captain)

Ronan Kelleher

Joe McCarthy

Jac Morgan

Henry Pollock

Andrew Porter

James Ryan

Pierre Schoeman

Dan Sheehan

Will Stuart

Josh van der Flier

BACKS

Bundee Aki

Elliot Daly

Tommy Freeman

Jamison Gibson-Park

Mack Hansen

Huw Jones

Hugo Keenan

Blair Kinghorn

James Lowe

Alex Mitchell

Garry Ringrose

Finn Russell

Fin Smith

Marcus Smith

Sione Tuipulotu

Duhan van der Merwe

Tomos Williams

($1 = 0.7499 pounds)