Ben and Tom Youngs fly to the Far East tonight having helped clinch yet another medal to add to the Norfolk rugby family's collection.

The Aylsham brothers will join up with the rest of the British & Irish Lions squad which flies to Hong Kong – where they play their first match of the tour, against the Barbarians, on Saturday – 48 hours after helping Leicester Tigers beat Midlands rivals Northampton in the Aviva Premiership final at Twickenham.

For Tigers hooker Tom, the 37-17 victory was the icing on the cake after the 26-year-old was named Premiership Player of the season.

'We work all year and grafted through pre-season so to get to the big stage here and win like that, it's massive,' Youngs said.

'It's massive. You get to the biggest stage here and then to win like that – it wasn't great at times, but it was fantastic to pull through.'

Youngs was also inadvertently involved in the most controversial incident during Saturday's final when Saints' captain Dylan Hartley was sent off by referee Wayne Barnes for abusive language.

Hartley was yesterday banned for 11 weeks, which rules him out of the Lions tour – unless he makes a successful appeal.

It has been an unforgettable season for Tom Youngs, who won the coveted Players' Player award at Leicester after making 18 first-team appearances this season to push him towards his 50th game for the club. He is also the only player in the 133-year history of Leicester Tigers to have started games at centre and at hooker.

Both Youngs brothers look likely to be among those rested by coach Warren Gatland for the Barbarians game.