The Lions have only once won a Test series in New Zealand - in 1971 - and they will mount their most sustained assault yet on the All Blacks next year when a 70-strong party, led by the England head coach Sir Clive Woodward, leaves for Auckland on May 25.

Whether the biggest turns out to be the best is another matter. Woodward revealed yesterday that he had set some conditions before taking the job of head coach in January, but he fell short of saying that he would have declined it had his demand for 44 players and a management team of 26 been refused.

"Before I met the Lions committee, I read the report of the 2001 tour," said Woodward. "It recommended, after the loss of the series and the public disaffection of some of the squad, that future trips should see a reduction in the number of players taken and in the number of matches played. I strongly disagreed with that. One of the lessons of that tour ... was that the midweek players have to be treated properly.

"They were left to get on with it in 2001 because the management numbers were few and they had to concentrate on the Test side. That will not happen next year and every single player will be given the chance to stake his claim for a place in the team for the first Test."

Woodward will head two coaching teams, one looking after the Saturday team and the second responsible for the midweek side.

"Most of the squad will have a start in one of the first three matches, and the team which plays in the fourth game against Otago will have a Test look about it."

Woodward said he had sounded out several coaches, admitting that he was looking to Wales, Scotland and Ireland to prevent cries of English bias and that the men he had in mind, all from the British Isles, were not all involved with national sides, a criterion which will also apply to players. "I would certainly be interested in two of them," he said, when asked whether Martin Johnson, Rob Howley, Scott Quinnell and Bryan Redpath, all of whom have retired from international rugby, would be considered.

By rubbishing the 2001 tour, Woodward fired the first shot in the war of words with All Blacks coach Graham Henry. "We have three objectives: to win the Test series, and given our set-up there will be no excuses for failure despite the strength of the All Blacks; enjoyment, which means everyone, whether player or a member of the management team, being given time off during the tour; and it is important that everyone comes back from New Zealand fresh, not shattered."

· The Ireland centre Kevin Maggs has joined Ulster from Bath on a two-year contract.