Ian McGeechan insists places in the Lions' Test side are still up for grabs as his team prepare to take on the Cheetahs.
Head coach says players can still push their case for Test selection
British and Irish Lions head coach Ian McGeechan insists Test places are still up for grabs as his side prepare to take on the Cheetahs in Bloemfontein on Saturday.
McGeechan will involve Donncha O'Callaghan, Leigh Halfpenny and Luke Fitzgerald in their first match of the tour to South Africa.
Gordon D'Arcy, who has just teamed up with the Lions as cover for injuries, is also named on the bench, meaning that all players should have had some game time come the end of the weekend.
And the former Wasps boss says players can still push their cases for selection ahead of the first Test against the Springboks in Durban on June 20.
Opportunity
"We've said we have got to keep our minds open," McGeechan said.
"When we come to the Tests, we will select on what we see in front of us and the way the players have evolved in a Lions jersey.
"That's important. It is the only way for us, and it gives the players the knowledge of what we are doing, that they know they've got an opportunity.
"We will leave some of those decisions until very late."
He added: "On the very first day, I said to the players that they are coming on a Lions tour to push for a Test place.
"The only way they can do that is if we give them a start in their positions, not just stay on the substitutes' bench.
"We need to give ever player the opportunity. I didn't want to bring one player on this tour and not give him an opportunity to start in one of these first three games.
"We are not going to be looking at pre-determined Test selections."
McGeechan has rewarded 20-year-old winger Halfpenny with a start after what he described as his "first-class" approach to recovering from injury.
The Wales international did not fly out with the rest of the squad 12 days ago so he could get intensive treatment on a thigh problem at home.
McGeechan admitted: "It was a tough call when we had to send Leigh back to Cardiff.
"The reason was we would have been taking up too much of our own medical staff's time if we took injured players away from the start of the tour, which I didn't really want to do.
"He was very professional in his own rehab programme and very well supported in Wales, and he has come back fit.
"He has been back training over the last three days. This environment draws special things out of the players, and everything he's done has been first-class."
Hook starts
Wales fly-half James Hook also gets his first start after coming on as a substitute against the Golden Lions on Wednesday.
His selection represents a golden opportunity to turn the Test number 10 position into a three-way scrap with Stephen Jones and Ronan O'Gara.
Attacking player
"James got into the game very well on Wednesday when he went on," McGeechan said on Hook.
"We want him do it from a start and be able to control the side like Ronan and Stephen did in the first two games.
"He's a good attacking player. He's keen, and he is obviously a very important driver of what we want to do and how we want to do it.
"We've got a pretty tough game on our hands. The Cheetahs finished the Super 14 pretty strongly, and we know we have probably one of the toughest games of the tour in front of us."
