Flyhalf Jonny Wilkinson will make his first start in New Zealand while new arrivals Jason Robinson and Gareth Thomas start on the wings with Josh Lewsey at fullback.

Leinster star Brian O'Driscoll will once again skipper the side and will be partnered in midfield by the Ospreys' Gavin Henson, a combination widely considered to be the likely Test midfield. 
 
In the pack, Neil Back returns from suspension to the open-side with Martin Corry starts at number eight and takes on the vice-captaincy role while Simon Easterby, who was called onto the tour as a replacement for Lawrence Dallaglio, is the blindside flanker. 
 
Munster's Paul O'Connell is on the replacements' bench along with scrum-half Chris Cusiter, versatile flanker Lewis Moody, fly-half Stephen Jones and utility back Shane Horgan. 

In other news, Simon Taylor has been ruled out of the Lions tour after failing to recover from a long-standing hamstring injury. 
 
The Scottish loose-forward ran out of time to prove his fitness after missing yesterday's defeat to the New Zealand Maori, and he will now officially be replaced in the squad by Welshman Ryan Jones. 
 
The news is heartbreaking for Taylor, 25, who is a double Lion but has never started a game in the famous red jersey. 
 
In 2001 he played as a second-half replacement in the tour opener against Western Australia, scored one try and created another brilliantly for Iain Balshaw before knee ligament damage prematurely ended his tour. 
 
Taylor's fate was confirmed today when the Lions medical staff stated they could not guarantee that Taylor would be fit in time to available for the first Test. 
 
The Lions have now lost four players through injury - Taylor, Iain Balshaw (thigh), Malcolm O'Kelly (groin) and Lawrence Dallaglio (fractured ankle).

The British and Irish Lions team to play Wellington on Wednesday is: 
 
J Lewsey (Wasps and England); J Robinson (Sale and England), B O'Driscoll (Leinster and Ireland, capt), G Henson (Ospreys and Wales), G Thomas (Toulouse and Wales); J Wilkinson (Newcastle and England), D Peel (Lanelli and Wales); G Jenkins (Cardiff and Wales), S Byrne (Leinster and Ireland), J White (Leicester and England), D Grewcock (Bath and England), B Kay (Leicester and England), S Easterby (Llanelli 
and Ireland), N Back (Leicester and England), M Corry (Leicester and England). 
 
Replacements: G Bulloch (Leeds and Scotland), M Stevens (Bath and England), P O'Connell (Munster and Ireland), L Moody (Leicester and England), C Cusiter (Borders and Scotland), S Jones (Clermont Auvergne and Wales), S Horgan (Leinster and Ireland)