Boss Sean Lynn is using next year's historic British and Irish Lions Women's tour as extra motivation for his Wales players.

Wales play the first of two WXV Global Series Tests against Japan in Tokyo on Saturday (10:30 BST).

Lynn's side are attempting to build on encouraging performances at Cardiff Arms Park when they thrashed South Africa and were edged out by USA.

They are also looking to catch the eye of Lions coach Jo Yapp in the countdown to next year's inaugural women's tour to New Zealand.

Their first fixture will be a warm-up against France in Cardiff on Friday, 27 August and Lynn is not shying away from using selection as a carrot.

"It's really exciting and actually the Lions is a big part of our roadmap," said the Wales head coach.

"What I am saying to the girls is how exciting it is to be putting their hands up for selection."

Lynn has given opportunities to young Welsh talent such as scrum-half Seren Lockwood, lock Jorja Aiono, number eight Bryonie King and full-back Nel Metcalfe.

Back-row forward Alex Callender is back fit and firing while tight-head prop Sisilia Tuipulotu has returned to top form.

"Jo Yapp has been in camp and was really excited about what she was seeing. We had some really good, positive conversations about individuals," said Lynn.

"It was nice for her to see the way that they performed against South Africa and USA, then come in to see them in the training environment."

It is inevitable that the Lions squad will be dominated by world champions England, whose 41-game unbeaten streak was ended by Canada last weekend.

But Lynn, who led Gloucester-Hartpury to a hat-trick of Premiership Women's Rugby titles before leaving for the Wales job, is confident there will be Welsh, Irish and Scottish representation.

"For England to win the World Cup and have the record they had is an incredible achievement," said Lynn.

"But there are also players in the other nations who can put their hands up as well. It's really exciting and Jo Yapp will do a great job with it as well."

The fight for Lions selection will intensify in April and May when rivals face off in the Six Nations.