Now we know the teams for the final Test on Saturday, there may be one or two people who feel let down. Altogether, there are 18 changes from the sides that started last week in Pretoria, and in a sense, we have a slightly devalued encounter between a Lions team now operating 14 short of their original selection against a South African team who have rested several of their first-choice players.

So, why is it that I am looking forward to this Test almost as much as I was looking forward to the first two? There is the compelling notion that with some of the pressure removed, we may get a sweeping and thoroughly entertaining match but one with the true bite of a Test occasion.

Just to see Phil Vickery, in his last Lions game and possibly his last international, coming up against Tendai Mtawarira, his nemesis in Durban, will be worth the admission money alone especially when you consider that the Beast was as anonymous in Pretoria as he had been outstanding in the first Test. I fancy that Vickery will draw on his experience and find some answers that, for an hour at least, will restore his wonderful reputation.

There is no point in pretending that the Lions selection is anything other than cobbled together and, with the greatest respect to two fine players, if anyone had told us that the centre partnership in the final Test would comprise Tommy Bowe and Riki Flutey, then the Lions may well not have left for South Africa in the first place. However, Flutey is a very fine player indeed and let's hope he can demonstrate that on Saturday.

Can the Lions dig deep enough to be competitive? Their spirit is beyond doubt, but with all thoughts turning to home and the British and Irish summer at the end of a ridiculously-long season, then nothing can be guaranteed, even in the bravest hearts. The inclusion of Joe Worsley and Martyn Williams, however, does give the Lions two men for whom exhaustion never appears to be a factor.

The South African team is scarcely less interesting. The flanker partnership of Juan Smith and Heinrich Brussow has a far better balance than the normal Smith-Schalk Burger combination, and Ryan Kankowski gets a chance to prove to the world that he is not simply some kind of uncoordinated greyhound, but rather the real thing at No 8.

In terms of the mental battle, the danger to the Lions lies in the freshness of the South African team and that a good number of them will be quite desperate for action - among them Chiliboy Ralepelle and Zane Kirchner, hooker and full back respectively. While the Springboks selection is much changed, the Lions will notice that the key leaders in the team are still present and that the likes of Bismarck Du Plessis, Pierre Spies and Frans Steyn are all lurking on the bench.

The match is devalued because neither team will be at full strength but the motivation for both sides remains massive, with South Africa looking for evidence of a new generation and for the Lions to dredge up once more, and for the final time in 2009, the spirit of the ages.