Bristol Bears and England star Kyle Sinckler will be a British and Irish Lions tourist again, Bristol Live understands.
The 28-year-old tighthead was a shock omission from Lions head coach Warren Gatland's initial 37-man squad for the tour to South Africa this summer to take on the World champion Springboks having played in all three tests in the famous drawn series against the All Blacks back in 2017.
But Sinckler, who has 44 caps for England, but missed Bristol Bears' 26-23 away win at Leicester Tigers with a minor hamstring niggle, looks set to replace Irish international Andrew Porter who picked up a significant toe injury in Leinster's defeat to Glasgow Warriors on Friday night in the Rainbow Cup.
The Bristol prop, who joined the West County club in the summer of 2020 from Harlequins, joins Ireland's Tadhg Furlong and Scotland's Zander Fagerson as Gatland's three tighthead options.
Sinckler's call-up will come as welcome news to the Bears star who spoke refreshingly openly about his hurt and disappointment and not making the initial squad which was named a month ago.
However, he has channeled that emotion into performances for his club, winning the man of the match award against Bath in his first outing following the initial squad announcement.
Speaking after that game, he said: "I am not going to lie – I am emotional.
“Right now it doesn’t make sense but what I wanted to do was to lead by example and show the kids....how easy would it have been me to play the victim, to say sorry me or to throw my toys out of the pram.”
“It has been so tough – I have never experienced something like this in my career.
“It has been tough but I wanted to show the kids and everyone at home how much it means to me and not throw my toys out of the pram and do the tough stuff.
“I wanted to use that anger, I have never had so much anger inside me and I used it in a positive way to do what is best for the team.”
Sinckler becomes the first injury addition to the 2021 squad with official confirmation expected in the coming days.
