The Lions will try out unfamiliar combinations in their opening two matches, starting with a Royal XV in Rustenburg on Saturday, with 30 of the 36-strong squad set to get a start. Training this week has yielded no fresh injury concerns, although the tour manager, Gerald Davies, said that yesterday's session, the most physical so far, left three forwards, Tom Croft, Phil Vickery and Stephen Ferris, needing treatment.
The opening fixture will be the least demanding of the 10 the Lions face in South Africa with the opposition made up largely of second-grade players, the equivalent of a team touring England facing opposition culled from the first division. Davies is, though, expecting a challenging game.
"You can only gauge the strength of a team after you have played them," said Davies. "We are taking the match as seriously as we will the next one and the one after that. Our motivation is solely to get off to a successful start and our approach will be the same every game."
The Lions have cancelled training today, a far remove from the last two tours when the players were flogged twice a day for the first month, after a touch session yesterday. "Four players were left with knocks that will take them a couple of days to recover from but everyone remains fit for contention for the opening game," said Davies.
The Wales wing Leigh Halfpenny, who remained in Cardiff for treatment on a thigh injury when the Lions flew to Johannesburg, hopes to join the squad next week. "He has responded well and is about 80% fit," said Davies. "When he has fully recovered, we will assess his rugby fitness and arrange for him to come out."
Davies led a six-strong Lions contingent yesterday to a school in Orange Farm, a 400,000-strong township south of Johannesburg which is regarded as one of the most impoverished in South Africa. The tour sponsor, HSBC, has adopted the school, Masibambane College, and a multi-purpose, irrigated pitch in the grounds was opened by the Lions.
Davies arrived by helicopter with the assistant coach, Shaun Edwards, and four players, Brian O'Driscoll, Gethin Jenkins, Nathan Hines and Ugo Monye. They were greeted by 600 children aged between five and 11 who spent the 65 minutes the six were at the school singing and dancing having assembled in two lines some 400 yards long to form a corridor for the media travelling with the Lions.
"This is what touring is all about and it is something we sadly moved away from in 2001 and 2005," said O'Driscoll. "The energy and enthusiasm of the kids here was worth coming a long way to see. It puts everything into perspective when you see something like this and the memories of this day will last a long time."
Before Masibambane College was built, children had to walk 10 kilometres to the nearest junior school. "It makes you realise just how fortunate you are," said Jenkins. "What coming on tour with the Lions gives you is a chance to see some of the country you are visiting and this was an eye-opener. Now it is a case of the rugby starting. We have been together for 10 days and put in some hard work in training but everyone is anxious for the first game to be played. There is a strong sense of excitement and anticipation in the squad."
