Wales legend Sam Warburton has backed England stars to dominate the British and Irish Lions squad. On Thursday, head coach Andy Farrell will confirm his selections for the tour of Australia this summer.

Farrell has not confirmed how many players will travel, but Warren Gatland selected 37 for the Lions tour to South Africa in 2021. Warburton believes 40 stars could travel to Australia this year, with the number of English players trumping those from Ireland, Scotland and Wales. The former Lions captain thinks only five Welsh players are good enough to make the squad.

Writing in The Times, the ex-Wales international said: “How many to take? That is the first question… There are so many factors to consider, not least the cost, because just to take one extra player will not be cheap and will have to be ratified by the Lions board.”

Warburton eventually settled on 14 from England, 13 Irish, eight Scottish and five Welsh. The 36-year-old went on to explain some of his key decisions, including selecting his former Wales team-mate Taulupe Faletau over some big-name back-rowers. “The back row selection was always going to be tough, and as we managed to fit in eight back rowers to the squad in 2017, I’ve done the same here.

“The likes of Josh van der Flier, Jack Willis, Tom Willis, Jamie Ritchie and Rory Darge are unfortunate, but all the others have made such strong cases, especially after I’d seen Taulupe Faletau play for Cardiff against Munster recently.

“Few players have as many X-factor moments as him. You should never underestimate the importance of an experienced Lions tourist and this would be Faletau’s fourth tour.”

Meanwhile, Warburton would not pick Henry Pollock, despite calls for the 20-year-old Englishman to be included. If Caelan Doris is ruled out with a shoulder injury, he would prefer to see Tom Willis. Warburton wrote: England’s Henry Pollock has obviously been making a lot of headlines and he is clearly a player of huge potential, but for me at the moment there are too many more deserving cases ahead of him. Even if Caelan Doris is ruled out, I would go for a like-for-like replacement at No. 8 in Tom Willis.”

On the wing, Warburton wants to see Immanuel England’s Feyi-Waboso and George Martin selected. He would also pick Marcus Smith over George Ford and Sam Predergast due to his versatility.

Warburton concluded: “Marcus Smith has made the cut ahead of George Ford and Ireland’s Sam Prendergast because of his versatility, so he could cover full-back too, and there are a couple of hybrid forwards in Ireland’s Tadhg Beirne and England’s Ollie Chessum, who can cover both lock and back row.”

Sam Warburton’s 40-man British and Irish Lions squad

Full-back (3): Blair Kinghorn, Hugo Keenan, Blair Murray

Wing (5): Duhan van der Merwe, James Lowe, Tommy Freeman, Darcy Graham, Immanuel Feyi-Waboso

Centre (4): Sione Tuipulotu, Bundee Aki, Huw Jones, Robbie Henshaw

Fly-half (3): Finn Russell, Fin Smith, Marcus Smith

Scrum-half (3): Jamison Gibson-Park, Alex Mitchell, Tomos Williams

Prop (6): Ellis Genge, Andrew Porter, Pierre Schoeman, Tadhg Furlong, Will Stuart, Zander Fagerson

Hooker (3): Dan Sheehan, Luke Cowan-Dickie, Dewi Lake

Lock (5): Maro Itoje, George Martin, Ollie Chessum, Joe McCarthy, James Ryan

Back row (8): Tom Curry, Ben Curry, Jac Morgan, Ben Earl, Caelan Doris, Taulupe Faletau, Jack Conan, Tadhg Beirne