A successful English rugby tour of New Zealand tends to be a relative concept. Does leaving with honour and pride intact count as success? Or is it the case that anything short of a series victory instantly qualifies as failure? The 30 Englishmen due to fly into Auckland on Thursday are keenly aware that sides arriving with a kit-bag full of excuses are doomed on both fronts before they even start.

So it was that Stuart Lancaster is determined not to dwell on the nightmarish logistical buildup which, once again, will prevent England from marching confidently down the aircraft steps with all their best personnel available. Another 14 or so players are set to follow next week after Saturday’s Premiership final between Saracens and Northampton but, in terms of the first Test in Auckland, his advance party of 30 is all he’s got, to revive a fond antipodean phrase from 2003. This is not a friendly game of ping pong, involving a gentle knock-up before the real stuff starts.

Which means the seven uncapped players named are about to receive a crash course in rugby reality. Even a couple of months ago you would have been offered long odds on Chris Pennell and Dave Ward being contenders to face the All Blacks in a Test match this summer. Now, suddenly, both they and the recalled Danny Cipriani are on the brink of doing just that, with all the longer-term career implications attached.

Cipriani, inevitably, will attract the most Kiwi interest, having taken a long and winding route back into the England squad via the Melbourne Rebels and Sale Sharks. Lancaster, perhaps as a consequence, went out of his way to hint the Leicester-bound Freddie Burns will start at No10 at Eden Park, with Cipriani on the bench. Burns has not had a great domestic season but has been showing signs of training-ground improvement.

Both men, either way, are set to experience an environment which will tell their coaches plenty. “I don’t think you can hide players defensively at Test level,” said Lancaster flatly. “They will find you.”

In other words, it is up to the former Wasps fly-half, in particular, to prove he is made of sterner stuff than some assume him to be. Lancaster has already seen a different individual, describing him as “diligent” and “quite quiet” in his few days back training with the senior squad in Teddington prior to their departure for New Zealand. The supposed playboy has been nowhere to be seen. “I’ve not seen any of that behaviour.

“He has been hungry to learn and very clear in his desire to be here for the right reasons. As a coach, you are watching all the time for the little cues and tell-tale signs that confirm or deny that. I have to say that so far he’s been excellent.”

Where he still has work to do is in familiarising himself to the same degree as Burns with all the team’s calls and patterns. “He’s a little behind Freddie in that regard because Freddie’s had so much time and experience [training] with us over the last two years,” stressed Lancaster. “Danny has played well on a number of occasions this season, but there are definitely areas of his game he could do better.”

The likelihood, then, is that Burns will partner Danny Care at half-back with Billy Twelvetrees – if fit – at inside centre. The back three for the first Test virtually picks itself with Mike Brown, Marland Yarde and Jonny May supported by the uncapped Pennell, who has had a splendidly consistent season for his relegated club Worcester.

Things remain less clear in the front row where Bath’s Rob Webber is included despite a recent knee injury along with Ward, his Harlequins team-mate Joe Gray and a third uncapped hooker, Luke Cowan-Dickie of Exeter Chiefs. There could yet be a fifth hooker if Dylan Hartley – expected to be on the bench in Saturday’s Twickenham final – proves his fitness and Lancaster would rather travel with too many players rather than too few. “I come back to the bigger picture. The ability for the coaches to work with the players is a huge benefit for us. We very rarely have that opportunity through the course of a season.”

Among those arriving with the second wave of Saracens and Saints next week will be another young tight-head – either Will Collier or Kyle Sinckler – and the Northampton fly-half Stephen Myler, even though Lancaster should also have Owen Farrell available.

“There’ll be a knock-on effect down the line but I can’t sit here and say to Stephen Myler: ‘I’d love to pick you but we’re not going to take you because you’ve got into a final.’” The more the merrier? To win this series, England are going to need all the help they can muster.

England players flying to New Zealand on Tuesday: Backs: Brown (Harlequins), Chris Pennell (Worcester), May (Gloucester), Yarde (London Irish), Tuilagi (Leicester), Twelvetrees (Gloucester), Eastmond (Bath), Trinder (Gloucester), Burns (Gloucester), Cipriani (Sale Sharks), Care (Harlequins) B Youngs (Leicester).

Forwards: Cowan-Dickie (Exeter Chiefs), Gray (Harlequins), Ward (Harlequins), Webber (Bath), Marler (Harlequins), Mullan (London Wasps), Brookes (Newcastle), Wilson (Bath), Thomas (Sale Sharks), Launchbury (London Wasps), Attwood (Bath), Parling (Leicester), Slater (Leicester), Robshaw (Harlequins), Kvesic (Gloucester), Johnson (Exeter Chiefs), Haskell (London Wasps), Morgan (Gloucester)

Possible first Test team v New Zealand, 7 June: Brown; May, Tuilagi, Twelvetrees or Eastmond, Yarde; Burns, Care; Marler, Webber, Wilson, Attwood, Launchbury, Johnson, Robshaw, Morgan.

Replacements: Ward, Mullan, Thomas, Parling or Slater, Haskell, B Youngs, Cipriani, Pennell.

England squad (v Barbarians, Sunday): Daly (London Wasps) , Miller (Sale Sharks), Rokoduguni (Bath Rugby), Sharples (Gloucester Rugby) , Devoto (Bath) , Hill (Exeter Chiefs), Joseph (Bath), Slade (Exeter Chiefs), Robson (Gloucester Rugby), Simpson (London Wasps), Buchanan (Harlequins), Taylor (Sale Sharks), Catt (Bath), Harrison (Sale Sharks), Collier (Harlequins), Sinckler (Harlequins), Kitchener (Leicester Tigers), Matthews (Harlequins) , Paterson (Sale Sharks) , James Gaskell (Sale Sharks), Gibson (Leicester), Wallace (Harlequins), Ewers (Exeter Chiefs).

NO DIVING

There was plenty to admire about Toulon in Saturday’s Heineken Cup final success over Saracens, not least the efforts of the outstanding Juan Smith, Matt Giteau, Steffon Armitage and Juan Martin Fernandez Lobbe. The wholly unnecessary, theatrical dive by Bryan Habana after he had been slightly impeded by Owen Farrell was less impressive. The Springbok winger has since apologised and quite right too. Trying to get fellow players into trouble is about as far removed from rugby’s core values as it gets.

PREDICTION OF THE WEEK The Aviva Premiership final. Having plumped for Saracens at the start of the season I’ll stick with them. Northampton have the big forwards to make life tough for them but Sarries have enough fond memories of Twickenham, following their Heineken Cup semi-final victory over Clermont Auvergne, to outweigh the disappointment of their defeat to Toulon. Losing two finals in successive weekends would be too painful to stomach. Saracens by five.