Wynne Gray: Why are the stars being left to rot?

Those Lions clad in civvies in the Waikato Stadium stand were the fortunate tourists. Few of those who played the New Zealand Maori left with unsullied reputations.

As a touring scribe mused, some of the magic of this tour went with them because they showed such fallibility. The Lions, he added, would lose one of the next two matches and every test.

None of the Lions will be contemplating that drastic outcome.

But a couple more speed humps like the Maori match and they will begin to wonder.

Already they have been deprived of Lawrence Dallaglio, the rejuvenated No 8 who was to be Sir Clive Woodward's commander in the pack.

Now they have been beaten, in most areas of the match too, by a Maori side which would be rated several notches down from the All Blacks. Granted, it was not a Lions test side, nor should it be in the future.

Quite where that XV is, is another matter. Before he left Old Blighty, Woodward probably felt he had a fair idea about most of his first test combination for June 25 in Christchurch. He would then have worked his way back from that date, picking sides and combinations to keep the minds and muscles of the near-50 strong party involved.

It was possible to understand the rationale behind Woodward's idea that he did not want his players involved midweek and then on Saturday. That sort of overload, he reasoned, had been the Lions' downfall on previous trips.

Fair enough, but there is something wrong about that rationale when Jason Robinson, Gareth Thomas, Jonny Wilkinson and Neil Back have to wait until the fourth game of the New Zealand tour to play their first match.

Add in one substitute appearance for halfback Gareth Cooper, just over half a game each for props Andy Sheridan and John Hayes, less than a game for hookers Gordon Bulloch and Andy Titterrell and halfback Chris Cusiter, and that is not a great deal of evidence for Woodward to use for test selection.

There has not been a great deal to see from his three selections so far; it has all been kept behind the red cover which has encircled their Takapuna training ground.

But you suspect work on the training ground is no substitute for pulling on the red jersey and testing first-hand the New Zealand rugby scene. Woodward has his ways and his other mob did win the last World Cup. But the lack of match play for various combinations within the squad brings its risks. As one rugby official noted recently, rest is rust.

That warning showed again at Hamilton where the Lions lacked aggression, were off the pace at the breakdown and conceded the tour momentum which had built through wins against Bay of Plenty and Taranaki.

It was an extremely negative effort from the Lions, more of the arrive-and-flop technique at the breakdown, inability to play to their set piece strengths while some of the indiscipline from Sheridan - when he tried to punch Luke McAlister's head into Frankton - and Gordon D'Arcy was poor.

Then there is all the whining from Woodward about the match officials, especially the interference from the touch judges. If, as he claims, the linesmen's duty is to watch for foul play and to flag when the ball goes across the touchline, Woodward should tell his players to shut up.

The level of advice they delivered to referee Steve Walsh was relentless. Their job, Sir C, is to play and let the referee adjudicate.

Don't discredit the Lions yet. They have a way to go but there is too much talent in the squad not to send out danger signs.

Of course the Lions will be buoyed that the first test referee is Joel Jutge, a Frenchman used to the Northern Hemisphere idea of the rule book.

And if the weather is dirty for the first test in Christchurch, the Lions have 10-men who can squeeze their way to victory.