Lions to play NZ warm-up in Wales

Cardiff’s Millennium Stadium is set to host the Lions next May in a warm-up game for their tour of New Zealand.

Confirmation of the fixture – against Argentina on Monday, May 23 – is expected tomorrow morning, when the venue will also be announced by Welsh Rugby Union chief executive David Moffett and WRU chairman David Pickering.

The game, a key part of Lions coach Clive Woodward’s planning, will take place just two days before the 70-strong tour party fly to Auckland.

The Lions have not played in Cardiff for 18 years. On that occasion – a game to celebrate the International Rugby Board’s centenary – they lost 15-7 against a Rest of the World XV.

The 1986 Lions team in action at Cardiff Arms Park included Gavin Hastings, Rory Underwood and Robert Jones, while a strong Australian influence in the Rest of the World XV was headed by Michael Lynagh, Nick Farr-Jones and Simon Poidevin.

Whether former England boss Woodward will have all his players available remains to be seen.

The warm-up match is scheduled 24 hours after the Heineken Cup final, which takes place in Edinburgh next year and could feature some of Woodward’s star Lions names.

Organisers will be confident of attracting a capacity crowd to the Millennium Stadium, raising seven-figure funds and boosting both the Lions’ and Welsh Rugby Union coffers.

English and Scottish rugby chiefs also had designs on staging the Lions game, but Wales and Cardiff have won the day.

The Lions’ 11-match trip will culminate in Tests against Graham Henry’s All Blacks on June 25 (Christchurch), July 2 (Wellington) and July 9 (Auckland).