For years the debate has raged over the merits of the Magners League and the Guinness Premiership, but now there is genuine fact to support those who see the Celtic competition as superior to the English top flight.

Take this season as far back as the November internationals. The only side to register a win in the entire programme for the northern hemisphere sides was Wales.

The side who came closest to making it two wins for the north was Munster’s second string - populated rather heavily with New Zealanders though it was - against the All Blacks’ midweek men.

Fast forward to the Six Nations. England were awful in places, better than awful in a few other areas, and excellent for one half out of ten.

The silverware was fought over by Wales and Ireland, almost all of whose players play in the much maligned Magners competition.

The Heineken Cup adds another supporting strut to the argument.

In the quarter finals, Leinster beat Harlequins, Munster and the Ospreys contested another of the ties, while Cardiff beat three-time champions Toulouse. Leicester, playing against English opposition, snuck through to drive the only English stake into semi-final territory.

Then came the Lions selection.

Twenty-seven of the thirty-seven names on Ian McGeechan’s list play their rugby in the Magners League.

I watch more Guinness Premiership rugby than I do Magners League. I have always scoffed at phone calls from colleagues in Wales or Ireland who suggest theirs is the better quality rugby, and I laughed earlier this year when Chris Paterson, the Scottish fullback who tried and failed to establish himself in the Premiership with Gloucester, went public with claims that the Magners League offered the better spectacle.

But can Premiership apologists continue to shrug these claims off any longer? Do the facts not speak for themselves this season? And if I actually watched more Magners League rugby, would I be so sure that I was right?

The Premiership has been busy these last few years packing stadiums and producing a brand of rugby that has gone through the roof in terms of entertainment compared to what used to be served up, and I would rank the atmosphere at last season’s Grand Final better than anything I experienced on the last Lions Tour and any home international seen since then.

As a polished product, it could be rightly pleased with itself that the previously  -supposedly - superior Super 14 was firmly in its sights. But while we all sat back and admired it, did we realise that the improvement was largely as a result of a considerable number of high class overseas imports?

As a result, the Magners League has tiptoed up on the rails and, as the makeup of the Lions squad shows, now produces the best of British and Irish talent.