The Lions face another depleted line-up on Wednesday when the Sharks, the Currie Cup holders, go into battle against the tourists at the Absa Stadium without 12 of their squad, nine of them on duty with the Springboks.
South Africa have released the 30-year old prop, Deon Carstens, to play for the Sharks but the others, who include John Smit, Adrian Jacobs, Ryan Kankowski, Tendai 'The Beast' Mtawarira, Ruan Pienaar and JP Pietersen, will remain with the national squad who arrive in Durban on Wednesday.
The Sharks head coach, John Plumtree, who was in charge of Wellington when they faced the 2005 Lions – whose side included Riki Flutey, who is on the tourists' bench on Wednesday – and who coached Swansea after retiring from playing with the Sharks in 1997, believes the Lions will face extinction unless warm-up matches are treated seriously by the host nation again.
"A Lions tour used to have an aura about it because the matches leading up to the first Test were always full on," said Plumtree. "Players were not wrapped in cotton wool ahead of the Test series and it made for great occasions that were watched by big crowds.
"I am not sure that these tours mean as much to everyone any more before the Tests start because the Lions face weakened sides and the rugby public, which has a surfeit of big games with the Super 14, Tri-Nations and Test series, are not going to come out if their teams are missing their big names.
"Call me a romantic or a traditionalist, but I think it is a big shame. To me, South Africa, along with Australia and New Zealand when it is their turn, should use a Lions tour as a means of warming up for the Tri-Nations: let the warm-up sides be at full strength, and if a couple of Springboks got injured, there is enough depth here to cover them.
"Go for it, make these tours what they were and encourage people to come to the build-up games. The alternative is that they could die out, and that would be in no one's interests."
The Absa Stadium will be no more than half-full with Sharks' fans not known for their penchant for night matches, but Plumtree expects his side to ask questions of the tourists.
"We have a strong line-up at forward," he said. "We have a strong scrum with Deon made available to us again, our regular second rows and a quick back row. We are just lacking a bit of experience behind, but we have powerful tackling centres who will pose more of a challenge to Jamie Roberts and Brian O'Driscoll than the Golden Lions did last week.
"We know it is going to be very tough for us. I rate the Lions and I think the management has got it spot on preparation-wise. They are keeping the players all believing they are in with a chance of making the Test side, something that was not the case in New Zealand four years ago.
"The Lions will be much better than they were then. Much will depend on the outcome of the first Test in Durban, but they are going to be competitive and I cannot see the Springboks falling into the trap of underestimating them as they did in 1997."
The Sharks captain, Johann Muller, a Springbok second row, said he did not regard the Lions' narrow victory against the Cheetahs as a positive omen. "We never win in Bloemfontein. The Lions went 20-0 ahead in as many minutes and then went a man down. They can rip sides apart and we know that we are going to have to be at the top of our game to be competitive."
Sharks Stefan Terblanche; Chris Jordaan, Andries Strauss, Riaan Swanepoel, Luzuko Vulindlu; Monty Dumond, Rory Kockott; Deon Carstens, Skipper Badenhorst, Jannie du Plessis, Steven Sykes, Johann Muller (capt), Jacques Botes, Jean Deysel, Keegan Daniel. Replacements Craig Burden, Patrick Cilliers, Albert van den Berg, Michael Rhodes, Charl MacLeod, Guy Cronje, Lwazi Mzozo.
