A big sporting month ahead for Wigan

Tomorrow, Owen Farrell’s place in the Lions squad should be confirmed for their summer tour of South

Africa.

Then on Saturday, Wigan Warriors have the chance to move to within 80 minutes of a Wembley return.

Standing in their way are Hull FC, with the crunch quarter-final to be screened by the BBC – in what could be the club’s last match without any fans; a limited-crowd is expected at their game at Leigh, on Monday, May 17.

Wigan Athletic meanwhile, can head into Sunday’s final game with a weight of worry lifted off their shoulders.

They face relegated Swindon, whose director of football is Paul Jewell, the man who masterminded Latics’ memorable final-day survival mission at Sheffield United in 2007.

Elsewhere, Mike Grundy makes his long-awaited return to the UFC in America on May 15.

The 34-year-old has a featherweight fight with Lando Vannata, looking to bounce back from his defeat to Movsar Evloev on Fight Island last summer.

The week later, Hindley boxer James Moorcroft will end a frustrating 16-month wait to fight again, taking on Anthony Tomlinson in a televised bout at Sheffield.

And that weekend GB athletes and Wigan Harriers Harry Coppell and Emily Borthwick will be in a world-class field at the year’s first Diamond

League.

High jumper Borthwick reached the final of the European Indoor Championships earlier this year.

And she has been rewarded with an invite to the Muller Grand Prix in Gateshead on May 23 along with her partner, pole vault ace Coppell.

The Diamond League is an annual series of 14 meetings held around the world and only the elite athletes are invited.

This month’s opener will feature many of the stars likely to be competing in the Tokyo Olympics, such as Britain’s Dina Asher-Smith and Jamaica’s Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce – as well as Coppell himself.