Ben Youngs and THREE other players who rejected Lions 2021 save-the-date

The England scrum-half has made himself unavailable for selection for the British and Irish Lions due to family reasons. The 31-year-old's wife Charlotte is pregnant with their third child and he felt unable to commit to spending nine weeks away from his family in a biosecure bubble in South Africa.

"Whether I had made the final cut or not, no-one knows anyway," Youngs told

"But because of the perspective I have had from four years ago and secondly because I have two young children and a third on the way - my wife is going to be heavily pregnant - this would have been a long period away from them.

"It has been a long couple of seasons now and so I just want to make sure I am here for the family and will be cheering the Lions on from afar."

DID YOU KNOW? Youngs also withdrew himself from the tour party in 2017 due to family reasons and was replaced by Scotland international Greig Laidlaw

Sport can be cruel. That’s how the Wales international started the tweet that alerted the world to the news that the knee injury he sustained playing for the Ospreys against Cardiff Blues last Saturday would require surgery. The consequence is that North will miss Lions tour of South Africa this summer.

Reports on Sunday suggest that the England prop, who pulled out of the 2021 Six Nations to spend time with his family, has said that he is not keen to travel to South Africa this summer. The 30-year-old reportedly received a save-the-date letter from Warren Gatland but subsequently ruled himself out of contention.

Similar to North, the second-row suffered a serious injury only two weeks before Gatland announces his 36-man Lions squad. The 30-year-old was forced off during the Premiership win over Bath last weekend and scans show he has ruptured his anterior cruciate ligament.