Mako and Maro need to repay faith

THIS time there were no surprises, no gimmicks, no rabbits from the hat or cards from the sleeve. New Zealand knows what the British and Irish Lions are about now, and there is no point trying to disguise it. This selection is testament to Warren Gatland. He has named the first unchanged XV on a Lions tour since 1993. An absence of injuries has helped, obviously. Other coaches will have made selections out of necessity on occasions. Yet what this proves, indisputably, is that Gatland has done the job demanded of him. He has fashioned a team, a first team, from four nations. That is always the challenge for a Lions coach: to alight on a best group with so many options. Some Lions teams are still a work in progress until the last. There were only eight players who started the last tour of New Zealand in the first XV when the third Test came around. Sir Clive Woodward has subsequently admitted he invested too much faith in members of his 2003 World Cup winning squad. By contrast, the elevation of Maro Itoje aside, Gatland has got the nucleus of his side right from the start, and, rewarded with a first Lions win in New Zealand in 24 years, has no reason to tinker. Not that the status quo is without risks. Mako Vunipola’s discipline has been poor on this tour, undermining his performances and risking a stronger punishment than a yellow card in Wellington, the All Blacks already having lost Sonny Bill Williams. It is impossible for him to pass under the radar after that and with much of New Zealand crying foul after Wellington — if an All Black gets a red, it follows that everything the opposition does deserves a red too — the pressure on referee Romain Poite will be enormous. The penalty count at the Cake Tin should, with better kicking from Beauden Barrett — one of three Barrett brothers now in the All Blacks match-day 23, a staggering achievement — have cost the Lions the game. The offending players — and breakout star Itoje was most certainly high among them — need to repay Gatland for the faith he has shown. If there was any temptation to change, that would have been the area most in focus. Gatland has also caught a break with Liam Williams passed fit. His contribution to the Lions try at Eden Park in the first Test is inspiration enough. Of course, amid the positivity, one fact remains: no All Blacks defeats in Auckland since 1994. The last time the Lions were in this situation, New Zealand won 30-13. Yet, three days out, there is room for optimism. It is the All Blacks who are being forced into changes, the All Blacks shouldering the pressure. Gatland knows his team, and they know each other. In that, at least, his Lions are ahead of the game.