Saints players set to find out Lions fate

AIMING FOR AUSTRALIA - Tom Wood is one of a number of Saints players who will hope to be included in the Lions squad (picture by Linda Dawson)

Tour manager Andy Irvine will read out the names of the men selected for this summer’s tour of Hong Kong and Australia at an 11am press conference.

It will bring to an end months of media speculation on who will be included in squad for the 10-match trip which starts against the Barbarians in Hong Kong on June 1.

Current Saints stars such as Tom Wood, Dylan Hartley and Courtney Lawes will all hope to be included in Warren Gatland’s group.

But it seems their chances are slim, with England players likely to be at a premium in a party dominated by Wales’s Six Nations winners.

One of those men, George North, who will join Saints this summer from Scarlets, is seen as a near-certainty to make the trip Down Under.

While another player moving to Franklin’s Gardens at the conclusion of this campaign, prop Alex Corbisiero, is also given a strong chance of travelling.