Farrell ready to show his hand as Lions selection day is looming

ANDY Farrell will select his British & Irish Lions squad to tour Australia next Thursday.

- 

The 49-year-old is expected to go with a 37-man squad and it doesn’t take a genius to work out Wales will almost certainly have the least players of all four home nations due to their 17-Test losing streak.

This will be a far cry from recent tours where there have been swathes of Welsh players on the plane, but Wales could potentially have their lowest representation since the 1993 tour of New Zealand where just five players went.

What also goes against Wales is the fact there are no Welsh sides in the semi-finals of either European competitions this weekend, meaning their final auditions have already gone.

Here is the squad rugby correspondent STEFFAN THOMAS thinks Farrell could select next week.

Back-three:

James Lowe (Ireland), Tommy Freeman (England), Duhan van der Merwe (Scotland), Mack Hansen (Ireland), Huge Keenan (Ireland), Blair Kinghorn (Scotland)

As far as full-backs go, Blair Kinghorn and Hugo Keenan are nailed on, no questions asked.

Both players are among the best in their positions in the world, with Kinghorn having taken his game to another level since joining European champions Toulouse.

Ireland’s James Lowe is in red hot form while Farrell is a big fan of Mack Hansen, so it would be a surprise if neither toured.

There are many pushing the case of Darcy Graham who has been outstanding for both Edinburgh and Scotland, but this writer has opted for Duhan van der Merwe.

There are better all-round wings than van der Merwe but he is a world class finisher with serious pace and power who could cause Australia all manner of problems if the Lions manage to get him onto the front foot.

England’s Tommy Freeman has also been in sensational form and the fact he can also play centre is a bonus.