Dan Biggar suffers sickening head collision and fails HIA

The 31-year-old was involved in a nasty clash of heads with Billy Twelvetrees as the pair both scrambled to pick up the loose ball.

Biggar failed his head injury assessment in the dressing room and was unable to return to the action for Northampton.

Wales legend Adam Jones, appearing on the House of Rugby podcast alongside O'Brien, revealed in the wake of Thursday's announcement: "This is what I know about Gats. Billy came out and said Eddie Jones should have coached the last tour and Gats will hold a grudge. There is no chance of it. That's what I think."

Doubts over his fitness hurt the 35-year-old's chances of selection, despite all of his experience. England's George Ford and Marcus Smith are believed to be the two fly-halves currently on standby.

The player of the tour in 2017 and a starting centre in the Lions’ past six Test matches, he has never fully recovered from the devastating knee injury he suffered in 2019. Reports in Wales suggest he's not even being considered for a call-up.

Not included on the Lions long-list despite his productive carrying game and physicality, which would make a later call-up seem highly unlikely.

Since controversially missing out on the 2017 tour, the speedster has had an exceptional four years, scoring 25 tries in that time and becoming England’s second-highest try scorer. However, it is England teammate Jack Nowell who is believed to be on Gatland's standby list.