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Dylan Hartley thinks a Lions call-up is the ultimate honour for any British and Irish player but does not feel it will define his career if he fails to make a tour.
“I think it is the ultimate privilege for any players from the British Isles,” Hartley told the Telegraph.
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“To go would be one hell of an experience I am sure, from what I have heard from previous tours. For the guys that do make the tour it will be the trip of a lifetime.
“I am not counting my chickens and I am not getting my hopes up because in a week’s time it could all be taken away. It is one of those things. It is around the corner, you know it is around the corner. It is not something I am overly thinking about or worrying about. I am just thinking about week to week.
“I have [faced] a good line of hookers [in succession]. I have had Tom Youngs, Tommy Taylor last week. I could have Jamie George this week then Luke Cowan-Dickie the next. They just don’t stop coming so I am just enjoying the games.
“That is uncontrollable, that stuff [the Lions]. I can’t comment on it – I don’t know what is happening. Either way I am going to be in a good place wherever I am this summer.”