Kiwi Lions Ben Te'o and Jared Payne have been described as the "ultimate competitors" by Lions assistant coach Andy Farrell.
The two NZ-born backs have burst into the 41-man touring squad from vastly different backgrounds. Payne was a highly respected provincial rugby player - the Northland captain - who wasa fringe Super Rugby player for three franchises - the Chiefs, Crusaders and Blues.
The 30-year-old Te'o, raised in Auckland, was a Junior Kiwi rugby league player who left for Australia in his teens, and had a strong NRL career with the Wests Tigers, Broncos and South Sydney.
Farrell said the 31-year-old Payne, who has had 20 games for Ireland, was a pleasure to work with, "a very experienced guy, who galvanises the backline, makes other people around him very comfortable".
He said Te'o, also a centre, had a massive impact off the bench for England and boosted his chances with a great club game for Worcester over the weekend.
"He's played a lot of big games, especially in the other code," said Farrell.
On the omission of controversial hooker Dylan Hartley, another Kiwi, Farrell said there were a "lot of class players missed out".
"We have to make sure we don't have the same type of player - that the balance of the squad is right," he said. "But we'll get injuries out there, no doubt one or two things will happen before we leave.
