Paul Rees

The Lions are facing a daunting itinerary on their 10-match tour to New Zealand next year, with no easy warm-up matches and an effective initial Test against the Maori in Hamilton before they meet the All Blacks three times.

The fixture list drawn up by New Zealand sees the tourists kick-off against Bay of Plenty on June 4th, one of five first division National Provincial Championship sides they will face before the first Test in Christchurch on June 25th.

The Lions will not play the NPC champions Auckland but will meet the beaten finalists Wellington as well as Otago, who topped the NPC First Division in the regular season but lost to Auckland in the play-offs.

The only second division team they will take on is Manawatu in between the first two Tests, with no midweek fixture in the final week of the tour, as was the case in Australia when some of the dirt-trackers, whose tour was effectively over, began publicly expressing their discontent.

That is unlikely to happen in New Zealand, where the midweek side will be put to the test in the opening three weeks with matches at Taranaki, Wellington and Southland in Invercargill on what will be New Zealand's shortest day, June 21st. The Lions will have three Saturday fixtures, with Bay of Plenty, the New Zealand Maori and Otago preceding the three Tests, which are being staged in Wellington and Auckland as well as Christchurch.

The Lions are expected to announce their coach and manager for the tour next month, with the England pair Clive Woodward and Bill Beaumont the favourites.

The series will have added spice because the All Blacks will be directed by the man who was in charge of the 2001 Lions, the former Wales coach Graham Henry.

Guardian Service