There are now less than three weeks to go until The British & Irish Lions kick off their summer with a clash against Argentina at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin and plenty of those selected by head coach Andy Farrell were in action over the weekend.
The Premiership regular season drew to a close as Leicester Tigers, Sale Sharks and Bristol Bears joined Bath Rugby in The Play-Offs, while the United Rugby Championship post-season was in full flow and featured plenty of drama.
Here’s how the Lions squad members got on:
Leinster contingent shine against Scarlets
Having seen their hopes of a fifth Champions Cup crown dashed by Northampton Saints at the start of May, Leinster are eager to finish the season with a first domestic title in four years.
And Leo Cullen’s outfit stayed on track as they overcame Scarlets 33-21 to reach the last four of the URC play-offs with a sizable Lions contingent helping their cause.
Nine of those named by Farrell at The O2 started against the Welsh side in Dublin and all of them were in the thick of the action.
James Lowe reminded everyone of his finishing abilities when he gave the men in blue the perfect start, crossing after five minutes, before Jamison Gibson-Park followed his fellow Irish international over the tryline five minutes later.
Scarlets remained in the contest at half time, trailing by just a point, but Player of the Match Hugo Keenan, another man bound for Australia this summer, helped put the game out of the visitors’ reach.
The 28-year-old danced his way to a try on the hour mark after replacement Dan Sheehan’s charge-down made the chance possible.
The win sets up a tie with defending champions Glasgow Warriors next weekend.
80 minutes for Tuipulotu and Cummings
Glasgow booked their own ticket to the URC last four after overpowering Stormers 36-18.
But even more pleasingly from a Lions standpoint was Sione Tuipulotu getting a full 80 minutes under his belt after recently returning from injury.
The Scotland international suffered a torn pectoral muscle just before the Guinness Men's Six Nations and did not feature on a rugby pitch until May 17.
The centre was in fine form against the South African outfit, helping set up a try for Kyle Rowe with a grubber kick and helping conduct his side’s backline throughout.
Scott Cummings, who will be joining him on Tour, also played the entire game and put in a trademark solid shift in the second row.
Saracens trio sign off with win
The three Saracens-based Lions ended their domestic campaign with a 36-26 win over Bath.
Mark McCall’s side missed out on The Play-Offs by two points but captain Maro Itoje and Elliot Daly both started at StoneX Stadium while Ben Earl came on with 20 minutes to go.
Daly signed off his season in a Saracens shirt with a try after a lovely, angled run and Itoje was influential in the 51 minutes in which he featured.
With no post-season commitments, the three men will have time to get some much-needed rest before the Argentina fixture.
Best of the rest
Tomos Williams, Luke Cowan-Dickie and Ollie Chessum all played for Gloucester Rugby, Sale Sharks and Leicester Tigers respectively, with all three emerging on the winning side on Saturday afternoon.
The latter of those two will feature in The Play-Offs while Williams has been nominated for Premiership Rugby Player of the Season alongside fellow Lion Finn Russell, with the winner to be announced on Tuesday evening.
Pierre Schoeman started in Edinburgh’s 42-33 loss to the Bulls while Tadhg Beirne was utilised in the engine room as Munster were pipped by Sharks in a place-kick competition after the two sides couldn’t be separated after extra time.
