Famous Five get Lions nod

A fantastic quintet of Ospreys have been selected for the forthcoming British & Irish Lions tour to Australia.

The Jones boys, Adam and Alun Wyn, are second time Lions tourists having featured in the 2009 South Africa tour, while there are first time Lions calls for Ian Evans, Richard Hibbard and Justin Tipuric.

With five players in the squad the Ospreys have the second largest representation behind Leicester Tigers with six, and once again have the most players of any of the Welsh regions.

The 37-strong party was unveiled by Tour Manager Andy Irvine and Head Coach Warren Gatland.

The squad for the 10-match, three-Test series is made up of 15 Welshmen, 10 Englishmen, nine Irishmen and three Scotsmen and will be captained by Wales' Sam Warburton.

Andy Irvine said: "The announcement of a British & Irish Lions party is always a much anticipated and exciting event. Selection for The Lions is the ultimate accolade and it is a great honour for all the players - they should be congratulated along with their clubs, provinces, regions and unions. We are fortunate to select from the very best of four nations and there will be some quality players who have sadly not made selection and will rightly feel disappointed."

Warren Gatland said: "We spent a long time selecting this squad and there were some close calls with a lot of competition for places. But ultimately we chose the players who will give us the best chance of a Test series victory. A Lions Tour to Australia only comes around once every 12 years and we believe we have the right balance in the squad to be successful.

"We have a tremendous challenge in front of us but I know the players will be dedicated to the adventure and task ahead."

Ospreys Head Coach, Steve Tandy, paid tribute to the Ospreys contingent selected, and to all those who have helped them towards Lions status:

"Today is about the players that have been selected for the trip and the nation will be united in sending our congratulations out to each and every one of them. We are delighted that so many of our players have once again been selected for Lions duty, which is the highest possible accolade for a British and Irish rugby player.

“Their involvement on this tour is recognition, not only of them, but of the work done to help develop them all the way from playing for their community club as a child, through the regional development system into senior rugby with the Ospreys, and every one who has worked with them along the way should be incredibly proud of the part they've played.

"In our short history, the Ospreys have already developed a proud tradition of supplying players to the Lions, with 10 regional representatives on the last two tours, the largest of any region. That we are able to make such a contribution again this time, despite four of our six 2009 representatives having moved on with two of those once again included this time around, is testament to the ongoing work being done at the Ospreys, day in, day out, to develop players of the highest quality."

Fullbacks: Leigh Halfpenny (Wales, Cardiff Blues), Stuart Hogg (Scotland, Glasgow Warriors), Rob Kearney (Ireland, Leinster)

Wings:Tommy Bowe (Ireland, Ulster), Alex Cuthbert (Wales, Cardiff Blues), Sean Maitland (Scotland, Glasgow Warriors), George North (Wales, Scarlets)

Centres:Jonathan Davies (Wales, Scarlets), Brian O'Driscoll (Ireland, Leinster), Jamie Roberts (Wales, Cardiff Blues), Manusamoa Tuilagi (England, Leicester Tigers)

Outside halves:Owen Farrell (England, Saracens), Jonathan Sexton (Ireland, Leinster)

Scrum halves:Conor Murray (Ireland, Munster), Mike Phillips (Wales, Bayonne), Ben Youngs (England, Leicester Tigers)

Props:Dan Cole (England, Leicester Tigers), Cian Healy (Ireland, Leinster), Gethin Jenkins (Wales, Toulon), Adam Jones (Wales, Ospreys), Matt Stevens (England, Saracens), Mako Vunipola (England, Saracens)

Hookers:Dylan Hartley (England, Northampton Saints), Richard Hibbard (Wales, Ospreys), Tom Youngs (England, Leicester Tigers)

Locks:Ian Evans (Wales, Ospreys), Richie Gray (Scotland, Sale Sharks), Alun Wyn Jones (Wales, Ospreys), Paul O'Connell (Ireland, Munster), Geoff Parling (England, Leicester Tigers)

Back rows: Tom Croft (England, Leicester Tigers), Toby Faletau (Wales, Newport Gwent Dragons), Jamie Heaslip (Ireland, Leinster), Dan Lydiate (Wales, Newport Gwent Dragons), Sean O'Brien (Ireland, Leinster), Justin Tipuric (Wales, Ospreys), Sam Warburton (Wales, Cardiff Blues)