British Lions head coach Ian McGeechan has rubbished claims his selection of a 35-man squad to tour South Africa this summer will be biased towards the Wasps players he coaches on a day-to-day basis.

Harlequins director of rugby Dean Richards, who was handed his first Lions cap by McGeechan against Australia in 1989, last week said he expects his club's players to be overlooked by the Scot and fellow Wasps coach Shaun Edwards in favour of less deserving Wasps stars.

Danny Cipriani, Simon Shaw, Josh Lewsey, Paul Sackey and James Haskell are all in the frame to tour despite failing to secure regular England spots over the past 12 months.

Wasps have also failed to impress this season but four-time Lions coach McGeechan says he is only interested in picking the strongest possible squad of players, regardless of their clubs.

"I picked Dean even though he played at Leicester so I must be reasonably open minded. At the time I was coaching Northampton," McGeechan said.

"He'll know I am big enough and open minded enough to be looking at the best Lions squad full stop.

"That is all I am interested in. If there are Wasps players in it or Harlequins players in it then it will be because they deserve to be in it. No other reason."

Wasps laboured to a 12-6 win over fellow Premiership strugglers Newcastle at Adams Park yesterday to keep a faint hope alive of them claiming a Heineken Cup place next season.

Danny Cipriani kicked three penalties and a monstrous 54-metre drop goal that lit up an otherwise low-quality game.

Lewsey, 32, played all 80 minutes just hours after announcing he will be retiring at the end of the season after making 259 appearances for Wasps and winning 55 caps for England.

The World Cup-winning utility back enjoyed one of his less memorable afternoons in a Wasps shirt but McGeechan knows the former Army officer will leave a huge void in a squad already depleted by the departures of Riki Flutey, Tom Palmer and Haskell for France next season.

McGeechan said: "He will be a big miss. There won't be many English backs who will go home with the silverware he has collected.

"He has been a hugely significant back in English rugby and he's been a very significant factor in the success here."

Yesterday's game encapsulated many of Wasps' failings this season as they struggled to prize open Newcastle's resolute defence.

With just 24 tries in 20 league games this season McGeechan's team sit at the bottom of the try-scoring charts having crossed 40 less times than they had at the same stage last year.

Newcastle head coach and former Wasps stalwart Steve Bates, who was convinced John Rudd's disallowed second-half try should have stood, admits that Wasps have a fight on their hands to turn their fortunes around after what has been a season of continued disappointment and frustration.

"Close games have gone against them and once you start to slip down to the bottom half of the table confidence starts to ebb away," he said.

"Once you do that you tip the balance ever so slightly and you are in trouble. Maybe that sense of invincibility has drained away a little bit.

"Their chances of turning things around are going to be down to the financial position that the club are in and the recruitment in the summer and what happens with the laws and Elite Player Squads."

Wasps winger Sackey is confident of making a return to action in their penultimate Premiership clash against relegated Bristol in 12 days' time after recovering from a broken leg sustained on England duty.