Kyle Sinckler, the Bristol and England prop, has been called up by the British and Irish Lions for the tour to South Africa following an injury to Leinster and Ireland prop Andrew Porter, Telegraph Sport understands.
Porter has been ruled out of the tour with a foot injury he suffered playing for Leinster this weekend in the Guinness Pro14 Rainbow Cup.
The versatile Porter, who can cover both sides of the scrum, was one of three tightheads originally selected by the Lions ahead of Sinckler, a tourist in 2017, with Porter originally called up along with Ireland’s Tadhg Furlong and Scotland’s Zander Fagerson.
Sinckler spoke emotively after missing out on original selection for the Lions squad, producing a man-of-the-match performance for Bristol against Bath days after his omission.
Sinckler said at the time: “I’m not going to lie, I’m quite emotional right now. It’s been tough.
“It means so much to me. I’m just lucky I’ve got my mentor at Saviour World and we broke it down. I kind of understand the reasons why. I think, in a year or two, I’ll look back and it’ll all make sense. Right now, it doesn’t make sense
“But what I wanted to do was lead by example and show the kids. How easy would it have been for me to play the victim, say ‘sorry me’ and throw my toys out of the pram. “It’s been so tough. I’ve never experienced anything like this in my whole life. “I’m just lucky I’ve got a good support team around me. I wanted to show the kids and everyone at home how much it means to me. Do the tough stuff, get on with it, use that anger. “I’ve got so much anger in me right now but actually use it in a positive way and do what’s best for the team. I think I did that today.”