The British & Irish Lions have called up six replacements to join the tour party in New Zealand as cover for their final midweek fixtures. The players – four Welsh and two Scots – will help to bolster the bench against the Chiefs in Waikato on Tuesday. That will allow the coach’s first-choice 23 to prepare properly for next Saturday’s first Test against New Zealand.

Warren Gatland indicated as long ago as September he was considering calling up additional players and has decided to move before this weekend’s Test matches involving the home unions are completed. The choices of the scrum-half Gareth Davies, the lock Cory Hill, the tight-head prop Tomas Francis, the hooker Kristian Dacey, and Scotland’s centre Finn Russell and prop Allan Dell have, however, received some criticism from the England coach, Eddie Jones.

With the suggestion that the Lions calls have been influenced by geography – Wales and Scotland are currently in Australasia, while England are in Argentina – Jones told the BBC: “My only comment would be I would like to see it picked on merit rather than geographical proximity.”

With Stuart Hogg invalided out of the tour and with Owen Farrell and Courtney Lawes unavailable, the Lions would otherwise have had to ask several of their potential Test 23 to double up next week, had they stuck with only their existing tour members.

Several replacements were also summoned in the later stages of the 2013 tour, with one of them, Alex Corbisiero, going on to score a try in the decisive third Test win against Australia in Sydney. In addition to the game against the Chiefs in Hamilton, the Lions are due to face the Hurricanes in Wellington between the first and second Tests.

Any suggestion an influx of new players will merely widen an existing split between Test players and the rest of the squad, however, has been flatly denied. Steve Hansen, the All Blacks coach, said this week he felt the touring team had already divided into midweek and Saturday sides but the Saracens’ lock George Kruis insists that perception is false. “He’s entitled to his opinion and he’s obviously a well-respected coach but he doesn’t know what’s going on inside the camp,” Kruis said. “He can have his opinion but we’ve bonded pretty well.”

The precise length of Farrell’s recovery period remains unclear but grade one quadriceps strains like the one he sustained in training usually take between seven and 10 days to recover. That leaves him touch and go to feature at Eden Park but the Lions do have one advantage in the shape of Phil Morrow, Saracens’ performance director, who is part of the strength and conditioning team on this tour. If anyone should know how to get Farrell back to fitness it is the Ulsterman and Kruis also confirmed the fly-half will do everything in his power to be involved.

“He is professional and he’d do whatever it takes. Phil’s dealt with him for the last five to six years now so he’ll know what will get him going.”

If Farrell fails to make it and Jonathan Sexton picks up a knock against the Maori All Blacks, the Lions could well be down to their third choice No10, Wales’s Dan Biggar. That possibility lends a further layer of intrigue to the fixture, although Gatland’s players are determined not to panic.

“I don’t know if it will be a major blow to the squad,” said Sean O’Brien, looking forward to underlining his own claims for a place in the starting Test back row. “[Farrell] has a lot of experience, has been playing very well and he’s a good leader. He will obviously be a loss but there’s other lads there to fill that void.”

The Maori All Blacks will provide no respite as they seek to repeat their 19-13 victory over the Lions on the 2005 tour. They possess a good lineout threat and have as lethal a backline as the visitors will have experienced on this expedition to date. The Lions’ aggressive rush defence is not always easy to outwit but their opponents will have the skill and pace to test that theory with artful little chips in behind.

Ultimately this tour is all about belief and O’Brien, for one, still says New Zealand should be wary despite their warm-up rout of Samoa: “I don’t see an aura in terms of them being unbeatable. They’re a group of guys exactly like us who play rugby. Anything can happen on the day.”

The Lions will also be keen to impress the referee Jaco Peyper, who will preside over the first Test at Eden Park, too.