80 mins+1: The hooter goes, the Lions hoof the ball into touch and the game comes to a close. It's a Lions win but not quite as convincing as Woodward would have liked.

80 mins: PENALTY Southland 16-26 Lions
The Lions launch piledrive after piledrive through the centre of the field. They get a penalty for their efforts and O'Gara does the honours despite a very vocal chorus of boos throughout Invercargill.

78 mins: Southland are throwing everything they can at the Lions to rattle them in the closing stages. But by taking gambles, the odd error creeps into their game. A knock-on from a bright move gives the Lions some breathing space... for now.

76 mins: PENALTY 16-23 Lions
Apanui sets up an exciting finale with a penalty, thus leaving Southland needing a converted try for a shock draw. After that Gordon D'Arcy replaces Murphy, while Rees Logan takes over from Hua Tamariki.

74 mins: Te Whare chips and chases, and shows disturbingly quick pace to put Murphy - the only man back - under immense pressure. Cool as you like, Murphy gathers and stands his ground as Te Whare tries to grapple him to the ground.

72 mins: PENALTY Southland 13-23 Lions
Southland are penalised for going to ground. O'Gara makes them regret that.

70 mins: Cowan and Cusiter have a quick scrap just a metre away from the referee. It's nothing more than a bit of grappling. The referee gives them a talking to but takes no action.

69 mins: Cusiter lends a bit of advice to the referee. For all his chat, though, he fails to dissaude him from awarding Southland their latest scrum.

65 mins: PENALTY Southland 13-20 Lions
Henson goes in with a shoulder barge on Quate and the whistle goes almost immediately. Apanui kicks his third successful kick of the night. Meanwhile, Simon Easterby makes another tour appearance as Michael Owen trundles off. O'Gara takes over as captain.

63 mins: Pehi Te Whare and T-Pole look a tad shocked as they dart through unopposed. The Lions eventually gather to bring them to a halt.

61 mins: PENALTY Southland 10-20 Lions
Murch is caught offside - O'Gara makes him rue his indiscretion with a three-pointer.

59 mins: In somewhat unorthodox manner, O'Gara volleys a poor Southland pass. It launches the latest charge forwards and eventually leads to a knock-on from the opposition.

56 mins: The Lions find themselves in trouble as Murphy fails to get in position for a monster kick by opposite number James Wilson. But a Shanklin break enables his team-mates to breathe a sigh of relief. For the most part, this is much better stuff from the Lions.

54 mins: CONVERTED TRY Southland 10- 17 Lions
Bulloch finds Moody with an attacking line-out deep in Southland territory. As the ball is is whipped out by Cusiter, O'Gara pops it to Henson, who dips the shoulder and touches down for his second try. O'Gara duly converts.

53 mins: Henson glides effortlessly through, off-loading to Martyn Williams when it barely looked possible. Williams in turn flicks it to Murphy, who sadly can't find his outside man with his pass. T-Pole instead becomes the grateful recipient to launch a counter attack.

51 mins: Jayden Murch replaces Aarron Dempsey in the hosts' front row.

50 mins: Yet more change - Gordon Bulloch takes the place of Titterrell, while Chris Cusiter comes on for Cooper.

49 mins: The Lions are making another change in a bid to add more bite to the tourists' attack. Tom Shanklin comes on for Smith. The opposition players and fans are seriously pumped up now.

47 mins: CONVERTED TRY Southland 10-10 Lions
The 17,000-strong crowd burst into song as Southland level the scores. Super 12 star Hale T-Pole, who's had a good game, charges forward to score after his fellow forwards charge on from the line-out. Apanui adds the conversion.

45 mins: Cooper produces a terrible pass from the latest line-out. It even bounces before reaching the feet of Henson. From it, Southland burst clear. Hickie does well to hold onto the ball despite the fast-approaching Lotawa.

43 mins: Sheridan brings the New Zealand front row crashing to the ground twice in quick succession. That added bulk in this half brings up the first penalty since the break.

42 mins: Shaw is on the ground receiving treatment. He grimaces for a few moments before limping back into action. It doesn't look too serious.

41 mins: It's all go again in Invercargill as Apanui's boot gets both sides back to action stations. Andrew Sheridan is the only change - on for Matt Stevens.

HALF-TIME

40 mins: Smith is penalised for failing to roll away in the tackle. Apanui has the opportunity to boost his tally for the night to six points. But he misses - much to the disappointment of the crowd. Midweek Lions coach Ian McGeechan will have plenty to talk about during the interval. It's not been an electric performance so far.

39 mins: Paul Miller limps off the field injured - replaced by Jeff Wright - as the clock ticks on to half-time.

38 mins: Southland very nearly give themselves something to cheer about on the stroke of half-time. Watisoni Lotawa kicks the ball on the break and nearly wins the chase over the try line. But the ball just goes dead.

35 mins: Both sides spend two minutes trying to outdo each other in losing possession. After a bright start by the Lions, they are going off the boil a little.

33 mins: Titterrell's looking like a mirror image of Steve Thompson with his line-out throwing. It's not been pretty... or accurate for that matter. His latest slip-up is a wonky throw which gifts Southland a scrum. That said, his work in open play has been invigorating.

32 mins: Simon Shaw is brought to book for offside. He can barely argue as he was proving a complete obstruction to the Southland defenders as Donncha O'Callaghan made his way over the try line.

30 mins: It all gets a bit messy out there as the forwards bump into the backs in the latest Lions attack. The move all appears to be crumbling until the referee picks out some Southland players offside. O'Gara kicks for an attacking line-out.

28 mins: O'Gara makes amends for his missed kick just a moment ago with an intelligent crossfield boot. Hickie is the man to latch onto it, Mana Harrison is the man to hurl the Irish wing into touch.

26 mins: An almighty slap rings out at the Rugby Park Stadium as Daniel Quate gets his arms around the neck of Andy Titterrell. As a result, O'Gara has a chance for three points... but the chance goes begging.

24 mins: The Lions have a good trio of players on the overlap, which makes it all the more frustrating when Smith knocks the ball forward. Judging by his reaction, he's more annoyed about the affair than the rest of his team-mates.

23 mins: The pace of the game slows for a nanosecond, before the teams launch a counter attack apiece. Neither has sufficient bite to find a niche in two very tight defences.

20 mins: Hickie gets completely up-ended and a face full of grass following a bludgeoning tackle.

18 mins: PENALTY Southland 3-10 Lions
Lewis Moody is singled out for the latest indiscretion - offside in a ruck. Apanui makes him pay by cutting his side's deficit to just seven points.

14 mins: CONVERTED TRY Southland 0-10 Lions
Henson makes his mark with the first try of the night. Denis Hickie, Ollie Smith and Mark Cueto play their part with some dancing feet and slick hands. As the ball is slowly recycled, Henson is the grateful recipient of the try-scoring pass. O'Gara then adds the two points.

11 mins: Gavin Henson dances and darts his way through the Southland defenders before off-loading to Martyn Williams. Henson's had a bright start to the game, obviously trying to put his case forward to Sir Clive Woodward.

9 mins: The frenetic start to this match is briefly curtailed by some kicking yo-yo. Half a dozen kicks to and fro before the Lions earn a line-out.

7 mins: The Lions are finding the sort of space they're unlikely to get come Saturday and the first Test. But their latest runaround comes to a halt with an O'Gara forward pass.

5 mins: PENALTY Southland 0-3 Lions
The Lions wreak their revenge with an impressive forward drive. They wing out quick ball. Geordan Murphy nearly darts clear of his tackler but is dragged to the ground. Southland are caught offside and Ronan O'Gara kicks the first points of the game.

3 mins: It's not exactly the dream start for the Lions, who find themselves facing a penalty when Matt Stevens is caught offside. Thankfully for them, Richard Apanui fluffs his spot kick.

1 min: Southland win the first line-out of the night and drive the Lions back some 25 metres - impressive driving.

0810 BST: The final game before the first Test gets under way as Ronan O'Gara hoists his kick-off into the clutches of Southland's forwards.

0806 BST: The Lions' somewhat underwhelming anthem - the Power of Four - is wheeled out once again. It barely registers on the lips of the Lions fans and not at all on those of the players.

0800 BST: The players come out on the pitch to put their finishing touches to their match preparations. It's a surprisingly mild night in what is the closest city to the south pole.

Lions: Murphy; Cueto, Smith, Henson, Hickie; O'Gara, Cooper; Stevens, Titterell, Hayes; Shaw, O'Callaghan; Moody, Williams, Owen (capt).
Replacements: Bulloch, Sheridan, Easterby, Cusiter, Hodgson, Shanklin, D'Arcy

Southland: Wilson; Harrison, Milne, Muliaina, Lotawa; Apanui, Cowan; Miller, T-Pole, Tamariki; Quate, Macdonald; Dempsey, Rutledge, Dermody (capt).
Replacements: Murch, Hall, Logan, Wright, Clarke, Petre, Te Whare.