Paul O'Connell, the Lions captain, will make his second successive appearance of the tour when he leads the side against the Sharks on Wednesday, one of four survivors from Saturday's narrow victory over the Free State Cheetahs. The full-back Lee Byrne, the wing Shane Williams, although the Welshman switches flanks to the right, and Luke Fitzgerald, who moves from the centre to the left wing, are the others as the Lions give the trio the chance to play behind a quicker pack than they had in their other two outings.
New combinations are tried again by the Lions, whose insistence that the Test team will have its first run out against South Africa here on 20 June now looks free of camouflage. The fourth half-back, front row, second row and back three combinations will take the field in the fourth game of the tour but, significantly, two units are being given another outing: the midfield, where Brian O'Driscoll and Jamie Roberts combined so effectively against the Golden Lions a week ago, and the back row, where Tom Croft, Jamie Heaslip and David Wallace bossed the breakdown in that 74–10 victory.
O'Driscoll, Roberts, Heaslip and Wallace look by far the leading contenders for their positions in the first Test. Add in O'Connell, who is being partnered tomorrow by a player he considered to be a rival for his place against the Springboks, Alun Wyn Jones, and the scrum-half, Mike Phillips, who is some way ahead of his two rivals, and there are nine places left.
"We have always said that we would not play the first Test side in the warm-up matches because of the short nature of the tour and that will be the case," said the Lions head coach, Ian McGeechan. "It is all about looking at combinations and giving players at least two starts before 20 June.
"It may well be that next week's side in Port Elizabeth contains some Test players, although they would probably not play more than half the game. All the positions remain open and there remains everything to play for. It is not just the matches that count, but also training. Four players are starting tomorrow for the second time in four days, but this is a Lions tour, not a Six Nations campaign. We are not splitting the squad up into two teams."
Thirteen of the side, including the entire back division, come from Wales and Ireland. The hooker, Lee Mears, and the flanker, Tom Croft, are the two Englishmen involved while the Scotland captain, Mike Blair, is on the bench.
The Lions had breakdown problems last Saturday, but players from the Magner's League are more conditioned to a contest for possession at the tackle area than their counterparts in the Guinness Premiership, as the four years of the cross-border Powergen Cup have shown.
"If someone had said before the start of the tour that we would go into the fourth match with a 100 per cent record and with just one player unable to train [Martyn Williams], I would have bitten their hand off," said McGeechan.
"We know we are in for another hard game on Wednesday even though the Sharks will be without most of their South Africa squad players. I can understand the policy of the Springboks management because they want as much time to prepare with their players as possible, and it is exactly where we are coming from."
Shane Williams will get his final chance to press for inclusion in the Test side after three appearances, one off the pitch, in which his industry has resulted in little productivity. "I want Shane to keep getting his hands on the ball," said McGeechan. "We are giving a few of the backs the chance to work with a different set of forwards."
Ronan O'Gara becomes the first outside-half in the squad to be given a second start. He will partner Phillips with the fit-again England centre, Riki Flutey, on the bench to provide cover at 10. Should O'Gara go off, the wing Leigh Halfpenny would also have to come on as he is providing the goal-kicking cover.
"It has been frustrating so far," said O'Gara. "I played in the first game but felt like a robot and an imbecile because my mind was telling me one thing and my body another because it refused to obey. I did not fully appreciate the effects of altitude, but I feel fresh now and cannot wait to get back on the field. The competition at outside-half is fierce and I know I have to deliver."
The Lions have so far attacked through the hands rather than the boot but that is likely to change as the first Test draws near. A man South Africans would not want to see again, Neil Jenkins, the outside-half who kicked the Lions to victory in 1997, is arriving this week to coach the kickers.
It is not so much goal-kicking that will occupy the Welshman's time – the Lions have only missed one shot at the posts in their three matches – but kicking out of hand, especially an attacking kicking strategy. Spectators will soon be exercising their neck muscles.
Lions team to face Sharks Byrne; Williams, O'Driscoll, Roberts, Fitzgerald; O'Gara, Phillips; Jenkins, Mears, A Jones, AW Jones, O'Connell (capt), Croft, Wallace, Heaslip. Replacements Rees, Vickery, Shaw, Worsley, Blair, Flutey, Halfpenny.
