Proud Maori will provide the first Test

With England captain Jason Robinson due to land today, it is a crucial day for the tour party.

They now have all the players who were originally chosen for the tour, plus the replacements who have come in for Dallaglio, Iain Balshaw and Malcolm O'Kelly.

As a result, Woodward has ripped up his pre-tour selection plans, which had the Wellington game on 15 June as the fixture when he wanted to put out the expected First Test side.

That cannot happen because the late arrivals will not be up to speed by then, raising the prospect of the Lions taking on New Zealand in Christchurch on 25 June with a team that have not played together. Patently, important combinations - back row, lock, half-backs and centres - will have played alongside each other but not the entire 15 chosen to take on the All Blacks.

That is why the Lions cannot afford to suffer any early-match setbacks as momentum is vital to a winning Test campaign, which brings us back to the Maori. If claiming the scalp of the most famous touring team in the world was not incentive enough for them, they will be desperate to make rugby history to honour departing coach Matt Te Pou. He is stepping down after a decade in charge of the team, and he reacted to the 29-27 win over Fiji by making five changes.

The team will be led by All Black back-rower Jonno Gibbes, who will have outstanding open side flanker Marty Holah riding shotgun and tough props Carl Hayman and Deacon Manu providing the ballast up front.

Behind the scrum, the Maori will be looking to the running skills of Caleb Ralph and Rico Gear to seriously challenge the Lions.

On the replacements' bench is Carlos Spencer, the All Blacks outside-half at the 2003 World Cup, who is joining Northampton after this match. He chose this fixture to say goodbye to New Zealand rugby.

The Maori squad have fostered a great team spirit under Te Pou, who uses daily gatherings and singalongs to boost morale.

The crowd in Hamilton will expect a performance of pace and power on Saturday. The Maori have lost all seven previous matches with the Lions but they have never been beaten by more than 11 points.