Gatland challenges Lions to show the X-factor

Coach calls for intensity in second match of tour Owens relishing captain role in entirely new XV

From X-rated to X-factor. Warren Gatland has charged an entirely new XV with the responsibility of washing away the bad vibes of Saturday’s display in Whangarei by giving them licence to express themselves against the Blues at Eden Park tomorrow.

Gatland was always intent on wholesale changes for this second match of the tour, to give everyone in the 41-man squad a start across the opening week, but there is little doubt there has been a laying down of the law as to how the Lions should go about their on-field business, being ferocious in contact and adventurous in outlook. This is the first ever Lions fixture against a Super Rugby franchise and it will be a significant step up in tempo.

“The message to the players is that we want to play positive rugby, we want to be able to move the ball and shift it and create chances,” said Gatland. “To match the All Blacks you have got to display X-factor.”

Indeed they must. There are eight current or former All Blacks in the Blues line-up, including Sonny Bill Williams if the centre can shake off a knee injury. There was a certain prickliness in Gatland’s demeanour when it was put to him that his teams will rely on the ‘Warrenball’ tactics employed by Wales teams down the years, as if it is some sort of offence to be direct and physical on a rugby field. The Lions will have to offer more than that one-note style of play, as Gatland himself acknowledged.

There is as much interest in deliberating who Gatland has not picked for this game as in who he has actually selected. The putative Saturday side is taking shape, partly by default but also by design.

Only five players, wings George North and Liam Williams, centre Jonathan Davies, scrum-half Conor Murray and flanker Sean O’brien, who is nursing a calf strain, have yet to feature. You can imagine them all lining up against the All Blacks on June 24.

Owen Farrell, too, has yet to get a start. Although Gatland has stressed that his mind remains open as to the make-up of his Test XV, there is an air of several players being held back for Saturday’s brutally challenging encounter with the unbeaten Crusaders.

The side to face the Blues are well-equipped in their way, with several national combinations paired together, from Maro Itoje and Courtney Lawes through Rhys Webb and Dan Biggar to the all-ireland centre partnership of Robbie Henshaw and Jared Payne, but the heavy-hitters will be in action in Christchurch.

There is, of course, plenty of revision to be made in Gatland’s mind should there be an exceptional performance at Eden Park. The head coach is aware that the Blues, even if they are the worst performing of the five New Zealand franchises, have lost only once to a side outside their own country in this year’s competition. There is plenty of clout and cleverness in their ranks.

“The Blues have got real gamebreakers, but these are the sort of games that will help us to get to grips with what New Zealand rugby is all about,” said Gatland. “We have got to be able to ramp up our physicality.”

At the heart of that charge will be the likes of Itoje, CJ Stander and James Haskell. Itoje has a certain experience of playing in New Zealand having won a junior World Cup here with England three years ago. The Saracen may be the youngest in the squad, but he has the latent ability to make a mark. On such a performance rests so much.

It has been a turbulent few weeks for the Scarlets hooker Ken Owens, from the "massive worry", of missing the entire tour after sustaining an ankle injury, to being taken aside by Gatland on Sunday night and asked if he would captain the side in what will be his first game for the Lions.

“I’ll be the sort of player that wears his heart on his sleeve and leads from the front,” said Owens.

Another relieved to be running out on the field at Eden Park is Ireland centre Jared Payne, who will at least know the way down the tunnel, having once played for the Blues.

Payne had to withdraw from the game against the Barbarians with a calf strain. Gatland has great faith in his big-match temperament, noting that the New Zealander, who came over to Ulster in the 2011-12 season, was part of the Ireland side who beat the All Blacks in Chicago. “I wouldn’t change my decision to move [to Ireland] for the world,” said Payne. “I’m buzzing and can’t wait to run out at Eden Park.”

The Blues will be playing in front of the biggest crowd (40,000) they have experienced, and head coach Tana Umaga has spent time steeling them for what lies ahead.

“There is a furore that goes with the Lions, which is great, but we have to work out how to handle it,” said Umaga, mindful too that there is likely to be a reaction from the Lions after their disappointing opener.

“We know that the backlash is coming, that the Lions will want to be more physical and more polished. We have to be ready for anything and everything.”

‘We want to play positive rugby, to shift the ball and create chances'