Rob Kearney or Simon Zebo are likely to feature, albeit most probably off the bench, in the Lions' game against Michael Cheika's New South Wales Waratahs in Sydney on Saturday.

Kearney is inching closer to a belated tour entry after recovering from his grade one hamstring tear and is the likelier to be named on the bench, but with Leigh Halfpenny set to start at fullback in Sydney, Kearney’s hopes of reclaiming the Test number 15 jersey he made his own four years ago have become increasingly difficult.

Kearney is more likely to start the following Tuesday against the ACT Brumbies, as will Zebo if not involved next Saturday, with the Brumbies game in Canberra emerging as the bigger threat to the Lions’ unbeaten tour record to date, which they duly extended to four games with a routine 64-0 win over the Combined Country in Newcastle yesterday.

As with the Reds last week, the ARU are not releasing any of the Wallabies’ 31-man squad players for Saturday’s game, which will affect the Waratahs the most of the franchises as they have the biggest contingent (10), which coupled with the absence of two more in a World Cup sevens training camp and half a dozen injuries, leaves Cheika with a shell of a team, akin to the one which played the Force last Sunday.

Admittedly, the Waratahs are much improved, fitter and more spirited under Cheika, and they did beat the Force handily.

Warren Gatland also re-iterated that Tommy Bowe remains on course "to be fit for selection for the second Test".

More cryptic
Noticeably more cryptic in his post-match press conference after the Spygate farrago, when he revealed that one person filming a Lions' training session had been removed but that the Wallabies were perfectly entitled to video their win in Perth, Gatland stressed his latest selection had only had one training session together.

“It’s a lot of use”, he thus maintained, though he must be becoming weary of a tour that has thus far yielded just one truly competitive encounter.

“There was some excellent stuff and some average stuff as well,” the head coach said said.

The latter was in reference to a few turnovers, but there had been “some excellent handling, off-loading and tries as well.”

Allowing for the nature of the contests to date, Gatland remained content, not least as the encounter did not serve to add to their injury concerns.

George North had been removed at half-time after gingerly stretching a heavily strapped thigh in the first half, but Gatland said he had come through without bother and had been taken off after playing a lot of rugby lately.

The Lions’ most potent finisher was effectively playing his third game in seven days and will assuredly be rested now, perhaps all the way through to the first Test.

"There's great harmony within the squad," said Gatland. "The boys who didn't play today worked really hard and we're undefeated, so if we can win the next two games and arrive at Brisbane undefeated it will be a good positive frame to arrive in."

Midfield combination
The match witnessed a renewal of the nicely balanced and potent midfield combination of Brian O'Driscoll and Jamie Roberts from the tour four years ago, and which may now be kept in cold storage until the first Test as the Lions strive not to show their full hand to the Wallabies.

“There were some really good things,” said O’Driscoll, without sounding like he was going to shout from the rooftops.

“We read off each other relatively well, and it was nice to pick up where we left off four years ago.

“It’s nice when you know the people you’re playing with, but we definitely left a couple of plays out there. He threw one great ball to me that I knocked on in the second half and I should have gotten away. But there’s good intuition there and hopefully we might get another opportunity at some stage to play with one another on the tour.”

O’Driscoll conceded the Lions lost a little of the depth they had applied in the first half against the Combined Country, when scoring six of their 10 tries, as well as the accuracy of their passing.

“As a result balls were thrown behind when a little bit of depth might have made things an awful lot easier. So I think that’s one easy fix. We tried to kick on in the second half but it didn’t really happen at times.”