WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) From the start coach Warren Gatland identified Saturday’s match against the New Zealand Maori as an important milestone on the British and Irish Lions rugby tour.
The match marks the midpoint of the tour – the beginning of its tougher second half – and Gatland indicated it would be against the Maori that he fielded his top-strength lineup, a week before the first test against New Zealand.
Not all has gone to plan. Instead, injuries and considerations of fitness and form appear to have prevented Gatland from naming his test XV and that might have an impact on the Lions’ readiness for the three-test series which begins in Auckland on Saturday week.