By Neal Collins

So Charlie Hodgson goes out on Saturday and plays his socks off against Otago at Dunedin, just as he did in his only other game on this tour in the win over Taranaki.

Then what does Sir Clive Woodward do?

Already Hodgson has proved himself the form fly-half on this tour.

Jonny Wilkinson looked rusty and uncertain on his tour debut in Wellington on Saturday and was eventually shifted to centre for Welshman Stephen Jones, who has been far from impressive so far.

Ireland's Ronan O'Gara, the fourth No 10 in the party, has kicked badly, tackled no better and appears to be trailing the other contenders by a distance.

Can Sir Clive really consider England's understudy as his Test first-choice?

Can he really be considering Neil Back, the flanker he discarded when in charge of England nearly two years ago, as his first choice No 7?

The thing about this Lions tour is that the injuries and late arrivals have rendered the normal split between mid-week dirt trackers and Saturday first team irrelevant.

Every time Sir Clive names a side, it involves his a series of possible Test options and offers opportunities to those who have yet to shine.

And to be honest, Josh Lewsey and Gethin Jenkins apart, who has really made a conclusive claim on a place in the first XV so far?

It all makes for a more cohesive unit, despite that training ground bust-up which left Scotland hooker Gordon Bulloch with stitches in his head last week.

Bulloch, behind Ireland's Shane Byrne and England's Steve Thompson in the hookers' pecking order, captains the Lions in Dunedin on Saturday, and let's just hope this one really does turn in to a cracker.

Wednesday's win over Wellington hardly set the pulses racing, the defeat against the Maori came down to territory rather than flair and the opening two games against Taranaki and Bay of Plenty were far from scintillating successes.

What we need is a blood-and-thunder victory for these Lions, full of punch-ups and fallen heroes and slick try scoring.

On the other hand, just a mighty forward performance and a couple of big brawls en route to a huge Lions victory would do.

And it looks like Dunedin might be the place for it.

Otago coach Wayne Graham has come out spitting bile already, accusing the Lions of dodgy tactics.

The former All Black says: "Let's face it, the Lions will pull every trick they know to disrupt your scrum.

"At the contact area they're trying to steal your ball, it's all about disruption.

"They're big guys who like lying all over the ball and they seem to be allowed to leave their feet, which is something I thought was outside the laws of the game.

"Once they do go to ground, they don't want to get out of there. They'll just lie there and try to disrupt things.

"We've looked at each of their games. It's obvious that's a big part of how they play the game."

Clearly Graham is asking for trouble. The very thought of these Lions in any way cheating is of course unthinkable.

It's like saying that Martin Johnson, Lawrence Dallaglio, Richard Hill and Neil Back, those experienced campaigners in the shadowy world of the loose ball, somehow hoodwinked the referees on the way to England's World Cup win in Australia in 2003.

Unthinkable.

This Saturday we've got Lewis Moody claiming to be over his knee injury (don't be surprise if he limps off early, he's famous for misreading his own injuries is Mensa Moody), lining up with Welsh pair Martyn Williams and Ryan Jones, who makes his tour debut after flying out to replace injured Scotsman Simon Taylor.

They're just not in the same league as Hill, Back and Dallaglio when it comes to erm... 'disruption'.

And that's worrying. This should be an uncomplicated task for a Saturday Lions team which his clearly weaker than the alleged 'dirt trackers' who turned out to beat Wellington in midweek.

All very confusing for traditional Lions watchers. But fascinating none the less.

Sir Clive has turned convention upside down on this tour. The biggest ever squad, the biggest ever back-up team, the most expensive tour ever and now he can't tell the difference between Saturday and Wednesday.

Hopefully Otago and their whingeing coach Graham will feel that way by Saturday lunchtime here.

My hunch: Hodgson will form a Test-strength half-back duo with Scotland's excellent scrummie Chris Cusiter, and we'll see the back three of Murphy, Hickie and Williams getting a bit of a run.

But this game will be won in the tight five, with the front row of Graeme Rowntree, Bullock and Matt Stevens bending Otago to their heavyweight will.

Keep a close eye on the lock pairing of Simon Shaw and Doncha O'Callaghan too.

Test favourites like Ben Kay remain short of their best in the second row.

If this is finally where the Lions get a big win under their belts, it will leave Sir Clive in a very difficult position when it comes to Test selection.

But then again, I'm sure he'd rather that than another boring, edgy victory over sub-strength provincial opposition.

My verdict: This will be the big one for the Lions, the game where they stuff a mediocre provincial team and start to scare the All Blacks before the first Test on June 25.

Stranger things have happened. Let's say 48-16.