The England fly half is doing everything he can to recover from the latest of three significant injuries within a 15-month period in time to win selection; so are Richard Hill and Will Greenwood, experienced England players who missed the RBS Six Nations Championship but hope to be back in action over the next three weeks; so is Colin Charvis, the Wales forward who missed a grand slam but may be available for Newcastle Falcons’ Heineken Cup quarter-final on April 2.

These, though, are the players who must cause insurance brokers the greatest concern. By the time the Lions leave on May 25, the cost of insuring the party of 44 players and 27 management will be approaching £600,000, the largest expense after the payment of players and staff. The insurance of the 11-match tour itself, as a logistical exercise, would amount to about £50,000 but the most valuable assets, the players, vastly increase the premium.

The Lions, a limited company, cannot afford such losses as the six-figure sum paid to Lawrence Dallaglio after the 2001 tour to Australia. In the words of the coach of that party, Graham Henry, the Lions “took a punt” on Dallaglio, knowing he had been injured but willing to take the risk. On the tour his knee gave way, he played in none of the internationals and missed some eight months of rugby thereafter.

How much more cautious, therefore, will insurance companies be in the case of Wilkinson, given his recent medical history? They have to cover not only the player but his employer, be it club or national union, against loss of earning power with what is known as capital asset protection. “We can’t take a completely open-ended policy,” John Feehan, the chief executive to the Six Nations and the Lions, said. “What we are offering is at least as good as any of the international countries but I can’t expose the Lions to multimillion-pound suits.”

Contracts for the tour have already gone out to players and their representatives — the majority place their interests in the hands of individuals such as Damien Hopley, chief executive of the Professional Rugby Players’ Association, or his Irish counterpart, Niall Woods — and alongside them is a medical form that must be filled in by the player’s doctor or physiotherapist.

Pre-existing injuries are the main concern, whether it be Brian O’Driscoll’s hamstring, which went when Ireland played Italy in February and kept the centre out of the next international, or Wilkinson’s neck/bicep/knee, which have prevented him playing for England since November 2003. “Anyone who has had an injury in the last 12 to 24 months that has prevented them from playing has to be assessed,” Feehan said.

There will be relatively few players who have not had some form of injury during that period — most have personal insurance policies, above and beyond the cover provided by club or country — but the nightmare for the Lions is a career-ending injury on tour. They cannot afford to pay for, say, five years of potential earning power on and off the field that might run into millions.

It is, therefore, conceivable that insurers will decline to offer cover for specific individuals and the final option for the Lions then would be to discuss with the player or his representative some form of waiver or cap. “If they will not, or their club or country will not, then we are in a difficult situation, facing an uninsured risk,” Jon Davis, operations manager for the Lions, said. “We would exhaust all possible options before reaching that situation but yes, in an extreme situation a player might not go because we could not afford the risk.”

The 2001 tour made a profit of nearly £500,000, which keeps the organisation ticking over until the next tour, four years later, but this still-young professional sport is changing all the time. Since then England have won a World Cup, the images of their players are more powerful and, therefore, more valuable. The same is true of, say, Gavin Henson or Shane Williams in the wake of Wales’s grand slam.

The directors of the Lions are obliged to ensure the company does not find itself in financial difficulties. Such issues may not be uppermost in Sir Clive Woodward’s mind as the head coach refines his choices before the squad announcement on April 11, but they are there all the same.