By Pranav Soneji

From a fitness perspective, we've got to take into account it has been a long season for a lot of these guys

If you think Sir Clive Woodward has selection dilemmas, spare a thought for Dave Reddin, a man with more on his plate than a front row forward at a particularly generous all-you-can eat buffet.

The England fitness coach has been bestowed with the onerous task of fine-tuning 44 rugby machines for the most intensive eight weeks of their lives.

If that was not enough of a challenge, there is the added prospect of getting to grips with the full fitness and injury CVs of 24 internationals he has never worked with.

And then he must get them up to speed in just over a month ready in time for the first Test against the All Blacks on 25 June in Christchurch.

But deadlines do not intimidate Reddin, who is more than prepared for the task ahead.

"The key is getting to know people as early as possible," Reddin told BBC Sport.

"I know the England players pretty well, but I don't know the Scottish, Irish or Welsh boys anywhere near as well.

"The main focus for me is to get to know the guys, not just personally, but find out what makes them tick.

"I need to know what works for them, what doesn't, what injuries they've had, the training history they've had so we can create a programme for them individually which not only fulfils the performance demands but helps them to improve all the way through the tour."

Reddin is looking forward to working with O'Driscoll

Woodward is fully aware of the extraordinary impact Reddin has had on England's fortunes, having appointed him as fitness coach back in 1997.

Since then, the former non-league footballer has transformed England's training regime into the most meticulous, sophisticated and scientific in world rugby.

And the brief will be the exactly same for the Lions.

Reddin will be assisted by former Ireland and current Wasps fitness coach Craig White during the eight weeks in New Zealand.

But before then he will be consulting Ireland conditioning coach Mick McGurn as well as Wales' Andrew Hore about the physical complexities of each of their players involved in the tour.

Some would suggest this is high-octane material to pass on to a "rival" fitness coach, but Reddin disagrees.

"Most fitness coaches want their players to be as successful as possible, so Mick or Andrew would like nothing better than to have as many Irish and Welsh players in the squad as possible," said Reddin.

"They've done fantastic jobs, I'm sure they'll want to help to continue that.

"The last thing we want to do is usurp all the work they have done.

Back will face the Reddin ice bath treatment once again

"I want to learn from what they know and try to make it the best Lions team ever."

And then there is the prospect of working alongside some of the most exciting talent in the northern hemisphere.

"The privilege of my job is you get to work with some really talented people," said Reddin.

"Guys like Geordan Murphy, Gavin Henson and Brian O'Driscoll are all exciting players.

"They are really motivated about what they do and that's what I'm looking forward to most.

"From a fitness perspective, we've got to take into account it has been a long season for a lot of these guys.

"But five weeks after the start of the tour, we're playing the most important games, so we've got to make sure these guys are well rested and as sharp as possible.

"I'm sure Clive is going to do an unbelievable job in terms of bringing everybody together with one focus."

Reddin will also have one enormous part to play in that role too.