ENGLISH rugby players will be elected for next summer's British and Irish Lions tour of South Africa - even if England do not participate in the Five Nations championships.
Ray Williams, chairman of the Four Home Unions Tours Committee, confirmed that the selection process will involve all the British and Irish unions.
"I cannot see any reason why a Lions' tour should not go ahead in its traditional format," he said. "The FHUTC is an autonomous body and it is entirely possible for us to stage a Lions tour even if there has been no normal Five Nations Championship preceding it. Lions tours are about the players and not the unions, and in any case next year players will have contracts with their clubs."
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