Wynne Gray: So, who's fronting up?

The Lions' mantra, as espoused by coach Sir Clive Woodward, has been that nothing matters except victory in the test series.

Most New Zealanders, even those rugby romantics who yearn for the full-blooded tours of yesteryear, would acknowledge there is some truth in that philosophy, but the concept is touched with flaws.

A series win would justify Woodward's notion - it would place him alongside Carwyn James and his 1971 tourists. But anything less would expose Woodward's planning of what he claimed was the best-prepared side in Lions history.

There are almost some thoughts that Woodward has employed the sort of blinkered thinking that undid John Mitchell and his troops at the 2003 World Cup. This is, of course, a shade presumptuous with the test series yet to start; the sides yet to be revealed.

But so far the Lions have not impressed.

If anything, their work against an inadequate Wellington side was inferior to that of the team beaten last weekend by the NZ Maori. The pack had more crunch but Wellington have never had much forward muscle and were without Neemia Tialata, Brad Kennedy, Jerry Collins, Rodney So'oialo and lost Ben Herring at halftime.

With about 75 per cent possession and territory, the Lions struggled to make an imprint on the game. Conditions were difficult and still they tried to play laterally when they would have been better served to test their work through the middle as a rehearsal for what could face them in Christchurch.

Selections seem to have been hamstrung by the size of the touring squad. Getting combinations together has had to be balanced by the need to give players games.

All the meticulous planning to bring 45 players to cover every injury eventuality and begin the trip with the number who were used in 2001, has gone pear-shaped, with three new players already flown in.

For all that, the sides look underdone. They may be training up a storm behind the red curtain at Takapuna or elsewhere, but they look way too unfamiliar with one another's play.

That is not surprising given that international players from four nations have been asked to mesh their usual patterns into one hybrid Lions scheme but have been given only a couple of games to road-test the ideas.

Lack of matchplay has reduced their opportunities to soak up New Zealand rugby, to tangle with a different style, to analyse and develop counter-strategies, to get a feel for how NZ rugby ticks.

From limited viewing, how do Woodward and his selectors make their choices for the test series?

Were most made before the tour or does Woodward hope a historical template of England's style, experience and players will still hold good two years on?

On what the selectors have seen so far, Charlie Hodgson would be the test five-eighths, Geordan Murphy could slot in at fullback, Shayne Burne might be the hooker, Simon Shaw could be a lock and Simon Easterby a flanker. But is Woodward going to go with those? Is he heck!

Somehow he is going to have to wring stellar test performances from a group who have played little on tour or he is going to risk some of them against Southland on Tuesday despite his mutterings about players not playing twice in a week.

Through circumstance or otherwise, Jason Robinson, Gareth Thomas, Shane Horgan, Mark Cueto, Ollie Smith, Jonny Wilkinson, Stephen Jones, Ronan O'Gara, Matt Dawson, Neil Back, John Hayes, Andy Sheridan, Steve Thompson, Andy Titerell, Simon Easterby and Ryan Jones will have been picked to start only one game here by the end of this weekend.

Halfback Gareth Cooper has had one substitute appearance, while midfielder Gavin Henson has played parts of two games.

Around those problems, Woodward should have seen enough of Henson to pick him for the test, Dwayne Peel has looked a nippy halfback, Gethin Jenkins and Julian White are props on which to base a solid platform.

The loose forward mix is his greatest drama after the exit of the injured Lawrence Dallaglio. Martin Corry is a workaholic but without any great shades to his game, Richard Hill has not got up to speed, and openside is a flip of the coin.

Skipper Brian O'Driscoll has shown glimpses of the acceleration and balance that make him a devastating attacker but he has also shown his lack of patience, asking for the ball close to the ruck and trying to make things happen on his own.

It is that individualism which could break open the series - some electricity from O'Driscoll or Robinson based on a dominant pack and a five-eighths boot.

But what Woodward craves is a united pattern, something that is still over the horizon.