FORMER England captain Will Carling, a 1993 Lion, has called for a change in the traditional early naming of the captain in order to ease the pressure on the touring squad.

‘‘There’s the old tradition of naming the captain early and I think maybe that’s something that should be reviewed before the next tour because it gives the media a very easy target,’’ he said.

‘‘It gives them two weeks of a story – is he good, is he not?

‘‘And I think something like the Lions, when you don’t know what the chemistry is going to be, you don’t know who’s going to be on form a month later let alone two months later. Why not announce the squad, take them out there, you have captains midweek on the Saturday and then when you announce the first Test you announce the captain for the first Test?

‘‘It’s been an issue on this tour, it’s been an issue before, and I don’t think it needs to be.’’ Carling nevertheless reckons the Lions have done themselves proud despite the two Test defeats.

‘‘I think they’ve restored a huge amount of pride to the Lions,’’ he said.

‘‘It was an incredible Test match. But the game was there to be won – I think that’s why it hurts so much. It could have and probably should have been won, but you’ve got to give credit to the South Africans.’’