Gatland to keep Lions stand-byes private

Cape Town - British and Irish Lions head coach Warren Gatland will not reveal his list of standby players for their upcoming tour of New Zealand.

According to a BBC report, Gatland will keep the list private to avoid "backing himself into a corner".

Gatland will lead a 41-man squad on the tour which takes place from June 3 to July 8.

"In our minds we have players who we will notify for standby, but we also have to be flexible," he said.

England scrumhalf Ben Youngs withdrew from the squad earlier this month due to family reasons and he has been replaced by Greig Laidlaw of Scotland.

"For some positions, we've spoken about one or two players," added Gatland.

"The reason we won't publish a list is because we may want to change our minds - we don't want to back ourselves into a corner with a player who is right at the moment but maybe isn't later on."