Exeter boss Rob Baxter says Wales lock Dafydd Jenkins is good enough for a British and Irish Lions call-up.
The 22-year-old missed the autumn internationals after undergoing knee and shoulder surgery in the summer.
He returned to action last month and has started Exeter’s last three Premiership matches.
Jenkins captained Wales in last year’s Six Nations and played in all five of their games at the last World Cup.
The Lions tour Australia this summer with the first Test in Brisbane on 19 July.
“He’s getting through an awful lot of hard work, and he’ll know himself, he just wants to add a little bit more accuracy to it, and making sure he makes good decisions, doesn’t just overwork and get into things he doesn’t need to get into,” Baxter said.
“But his attitude to playing, to training, to where he wants the team to be, what he expects from the players around him is absolutely fantastic.
“I would fully expect him to have a very good Six Nations. In my opinion he’s a guy who will be a Lion, he will be, it’s whether it’s now, whether it’s this tour, whether it’s another tour.
“To be fair he’s got plenty time, he could go on a Lions tour in three tours time and still be in his prime.
“For me he’s one of the guys in our team and in our pack that my ambition is to build a very good team around.”
