Lions boss Warren Gatland to call-up MORE players ahead of All Blacks series

WARREN GATLAND is calling in the cavalry as he looks to add up to SIX players to his Lions squad.

Gatland already has 40 players out in New Zealand, but wants to protect his Test stars ahead of their first outing against the All Blacks.

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And with Wales playing in Auckland and Scotland in Australia Gatland will boost his side for the Chiefs game in Hamilton on Tuesday.

It is expected the new players will arrive in New Zealand across the weekend, with the Wales stars linking up straight after their game with Tonga on Friday.

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The list is not set in stone, though, as Gatland is wary of players in his sights picking up injuries.

Although All Blacks boss Steve Hansen tried to stick his nose in by seemingly announcing the move, Garland had infact planned to call for reinforcements from the start.

When he was named as Lions boss for the second time in September, Gatland said: “One thing that I spoke about in the interview process, the hardest game is the Chiefs game before the First Test. How do you protect that Test match 23?
“I know Wales are in New Zealand, Scotland are in Australia, England in Argentina and Ireland inJapan – so there is potentially an opportunity to maybe bring in 4 or 5 to maybe sit on the bench.
“That is my thought process at the moment. You want to protect that Test 23. It made a massive difference in 2013, we had players on the bench, but not exposing the 15 to having to be involved.
“That is important. It’s getting the balance right, you don’t want the squad to be too big and unwieldy, how do you keep it small enough so everyone feels a part, feels like they have an opportunity, so you are not carrying two or three just for the sake of it.
“We did it in 2013 with Shane Williams. You try you protect the starting XV, if you are taking up to 40 players, how many do you have available for the Chiefs game.”