Airplay problem from Iphone to Homepod

Hi,

I am trying to airplay music from the Music app on my Iphone to my Homepod. When I press the airplay icon at the bottom of the music app screen, it shows the homepod as an option, but when I select it the music just stops playing. When I press play again, it plays on the iphone itself and not on the homepod.

There is no way I can get to play to the homepod directly from the music app. The same applies to the podcast app.

When I go to control centre I see the separate homepod 'bubble' and I can select that, but it is much more convoluted and gives fewer controls, especially so for podcasts.

Any ideas?

Thanks.