FORMER Gloucester skipper Greig Laidlaw helped the British and Irish Lions to their biggest win of the tour of New Zealand so far on Tuesday morning.

Laidlaw was picked at scrum-half to start the match and was involved a lot in the Lions attacks as the Waikato Chiefs were routed 34-6.

England wing Wing Jack Nowell ran in two tries as the tourists' dirt-trackers recorded a first win in three outings to lift spirits heading into Saturday's first Test against New Zealand.

The chances of Laidlaw, or anyone else in Tuesday’s side, making the first Test at Eden Park, Auckland, are slim but one or two people put their hands up for possible selection for the second Test on Saturday week.

Lions head coach Warren Gatland, asked if the they are peaking at the right time, said: "I hope so. We're in pretty good shape.

“We're up against it, but we're getting better each week. We always said we'd get better the longer the tour went on.

"There are still things to work on, but this was a really important result for those players who had been in front in the other two midweek games only to let those leads slip.

"We squeezed them and played some good rugby. That try that Jared Payne scored was pretty impressive and Jack Nowell scored a couple of tries as well, so we're starting to finish a little bit.

"That comes from spending time together. We know we have a few things to tidy up, but we took the legs from them and that enabled us to play some good rugby.

"The guys are pretty happy in the changing room. We had a couple of songs, so there's good spirit and this was a great result for this group of players."