Piri Weepu has warned his Wellington team-mates to be wary of a British & Irish Lions backlash in the wake of New Zealand Maori’s 19-13 victory over the tourists.
The scrum-half has returned to his Wellington province to prepare to take on the tourists again and believes Sir Clive Woodward’s side will be out for revenge.
The 21-year-old said: "There are about three players that are going to be starting [from the Maori game] so we are going to feel all their anger from Saturday night’s loss. Hopefully we can step up to it."
Weepu is also convinced the Lions could be beaten by a Wellington side minus four of their All Blacks contingent of Tana Umaga, Conrad Smith, Rodney So’oialo and Jerry Collins.
He added: "There are a few weaknesses that they have that they know they need to work on. Hopefully we can attack them in those areas, but they will probably change their game plan.
"They have not pulled everything out yet, so we are expecting more.
"They have a new back three. We have just got to do our homework and play the right game-plan and we can come away with a win just as easily as the Maori did."
Weepu said Wellington would also be wary of the Lions’ attempts to slow the ball down at the breakdown.
"They are pretty good at it. They like slowing the ball down to get their defence organised.
"We have just got to get in and get it back as fast as possible and not go in by ourselves. We have got to make sure we get good numbers there and clean out the rucks."
