SO, ALL that glisters may not be gold. Three of Britain’s most glittering talents seem bound to miss the highest-profile rugby union event outside the World Cup. Twelve months ago many would have predicted that James Hook, Danny Cipriani and Jonny Wilkinson would have been the fly-halves heading for South Africa with the British & Irish Lions. Instead, the less ethereal but earthier talents of Ronan O’Gara and Stephen Jones have earned the right to be considered certainties for the tour, while Toby Flood may have emerged as the third-choice back-up for both fly-half and inside-centre.

Unless there is a last-second change of plan from Ian McGeechan, the absence of Hook, Cipriani and Wilkinson leaves the Lions a little short on stardust and unable to try the sort of gamble capable of turning a Test series with something completely different. Throughout the Six Nations there was a sense that the Lions would take one of the headline-hogging 10s but, seemingly, much as McGeechan would love to take a game-breaking alternative to the experienced Irish and Welsh duo, time has ticked away too quickly for both Cipriani and Wilkinson.

Wilkinson is the easiest omission to explain. He simply has not played enough rugby. What he did play was as good as anything he has produced for a few years — but it has been far too little. In 2005 McGeechan was an assistant coach who saw what happened when Sir Clive Woodward shoehorned a rusty and palpably unfit Wilkinson onto the tour and into the Test team.

A fly-half made the headlines but from a Lions perspective it was the wrong one, because the savage brilliance of Dan Carter exposed and heightened the fragility of Wilkinson’s readiness for this level of rugby. Lions tours are no place for underperforming men, no matter what their reputation.

The constant whispers surrounding the possibility of Cipriani being the third 10 also seem to have fallen on deaf ears despite all the loaded questions the head coach has been forced to answer in the past few months, although he must have been a lot closer than Wilkinson to the squad because of the volume of rugby he has played this season.

There has been improvement but there has never been a hint of the same Cipriani who bestrode Twickenham like a swaggering colossus against Ireland last season. The ankle injury and the desperate first autumn of the Martin Johnson regime have combined to pincer his high hopes. His supporters have pointed to the growing number of smooth breaks in Wasps colours as proof of his imminent return to his blazing best. He must be a mighty temptation, given the threat his acceleration could pose on the firm grounds of the high veldt, but an analysis of his game is not quite as encouraging as the cosmetic beauty of some of those breaks.

As happened with England last autumn, his breaks have been made when he works himself into space against tight-five forwards. He looks devastating, but these broken-field moments are not the same as the slashing midfield angles he created last season to open the path to the try-line for the Wasps midfield. That Wasps have scored fewer tries than any Premiership side must count against him. The breaks have been pretty but have lacked a killer finish. He will be distraught if, as expected, he is left out of the tour but he has the talent to come again.

The fly-half who should be most bitterly disappointed is Hook. The Osprey is blessed with some of the most instinctive skills of any player in recent times. In terms of talent he possesses enough to be the Test fly-half for the Lions. He dwarfs Jones in terms of skills but the deficit in terms of game management between the two Welshmen is an even greater gulf. While the position is one that demands a commanding presence, the gentle, genial Hook has failed to find the poise of Jones or the arrogant edge that makes O’Gara such a potent winner.

The two men fighting for the Test spot can only dream of the individual flourishes Hook possesses in his bag of tricks but the Lions 10 has to boss his team and plot their way through the minefield of the Springbok side. Hook is happy to be nothing more than a fellow traveller with the rest of his mates, which has probably cost him the third place that, given the absence of Wilkinson and Cipriani, should have been his almost by rights. Alas, to watch the Ospreys’ amorphous rugby of recent weeks has been to perceive a poetic talent drift out of his Lions destiny.

This may all have opened the door for an Englishman who many feel is the second best fly-half for his club. Flood will do well to regain the Leicester No 10 shirt from Sam Vesty for the Heineken Cup semi-finals, yet his range is an alternative to Jones and O’Gara. There is more originality to his game but nothing like the critical control required for 80 minutes of Lions Test rugby.

As third-choice midfielder, he might offer variety from the bench. There is a sense, however, that the failure of the Golden Boys to produce a determined enough challenge has allowed him to glide into a tour space booked for somebody else. If he can repeat his latest two performances for England he will not let the Lions down, but one is still left with a sense that something is missing.

The reason for overlooking the three big names has an inexorable logic to it, but will plain logic alone overcome South Africa? Maybe that was destined to be the last question McGeechan asked himself before Tuesday’s unveiling — and before Nicky Robinson’s late surge into contention yesterday.