Lion King Alun Wyn Jones set to fly to South Africa this week in miracle comeback

ALUN WYN JONES is on the verge of completing his shock Lions return - and is set fly to South Africa THIS WEEK.

Boss Warren Gatland told SunSport almost two weeks ago that the second row had made a remarkable recovery from a dislocated shoulder and was in line with a Test shot.

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But this shock u-turn came after Jones was completely ruled-out of playing against the Springboks just days earlier.

Now it looks as if the 35-year-old has done just what he promised Gatland and has made a miracle recovery.

When asked if 'Big Al' could join the squad in Cape Town, Gatland said: “There’s a possibility as he is back in training.

“We’re waiting for the medical reports to see what happens with that.

"A few weeks ago we didn’t think it was an option and he has been back fully training with Wales this and he’s doing a double session tomorrow.

"We’ll see what the outcome of that is.

"He has made a remarkable recovery in terms of the injury, the assessment was initially that it wasn’t as bad as they first thought.

"It’s a real positive and it would be a boost to the squad to have someone of his experienced and calibre to come back in.”

SunSport revealed that the 35-year-old talisman COULD still feature in his fourth series after doctors in the UK inspected the second-row's shoulder.

Just 10 days ago Gatland said: “Given his age, they think that they could potentially take a few shortcuts, more than you would do with a young player, if he picked up this type of injury at the start of his career.

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“So he's kind of optimistic that a miracle may happen, and then he can get himself right.

"We're just going to assess it and see how the next couple of weeks goes in terms of that.

“I think the specialist said, when he had to look at it, that it wasn't quite as bad as he thought it would be.

“But not good enough, obviously, to come on tour to start with.

"And we needed a replacement, otherwise we would have put too much pressure on him and the other second rows."