The Lions face the Barbarians tomorrow afternoon in Hong Kong, in the first game of their summer tour.

Paul O’Connell captains the side tomorrow as Sam Warburton sits the game out with a knee injury. Keith Wood told Newstalk he he was concerned about Warburton’s fitness, and O’Connell will need to be prepared for the duties of the captaincy to extend further into the tour, possibly up to the test series against Australia. “It’s an important one for Paul because he could end up being captain in the test series.”

Wood is confident O'Connell is the right man for the job, should it be necessary. “Even in the way he’s kind of carrying himself and the tone of his comments at the moment, he’s matured so much, he’s been there before, he knows exactly what this is about, he doesn’t take anything for granted. And he’s an incredible rallying call," he said.

With temperatures to go above thirty degrees and the humidity reaching suffocating plus 90% levels it will be a physically exhausting game, and one Keith Wood hopes will not be used to judge players in terms of the final test line-up. For Wood, the first few games of the Lions tour are all about the team blending, not individuals facing tests.

“They need to play as many games as they can. I don’t know if this is a test or not. I would hope not, because that’s not what the Lions is about.

“The Lions is about the blend. It takes time over the tour to build a team together and one off games at the start are not tests in that nature,” Wood said.

The side facing the Barbarians will include many who have not played for the last couple of weeks, and some who would not be considered automatic picks for the test side. For Wood it’s important to give each player time in a starting fifteen spot, to reinforce the belief that they can earn their spot in the test side.

“It is important that they don’t just get game time, but that they get game time in 1-15 jerseys so they’re all going to start in the first three matches if possible. To get people used to the idea that they have the chance and the opportunity to get into the test team in 3 weeks.”

Listen to the full Newstalk’s Oisin Langan speaking with Keith Wood via the player below