Coach looks to use four key areas to beat the Springboks

Packing the midfield with big ball-carriers

The fripperies of style have been extinguished in favour of athletic specimens to stand up to the Bokke power. No places for the elegant George Ford, the intelligent Henry Slade or the gliding Garry Ringrose; no spot for the weaving ball control of Johnny Sexton, either.

Centres Bundee Aki, Robbie Henshaw and Chris Harris are grafters but – while Elliot Daly would hope to change this perception – more accomplished footballers have been excluded. In the absence of Manu Tuilagi, Gatland is looking to shore up the midfield against rampaging centre Damian de Allende and, perhaps, exploit the more lightweight areas of the Springboks out wide.

Picking mobile forwards …

Jack Conan and Sam Simmonds might seem peculiar selections but confrontation is not the answer. When England tried that in 2019, fighting fire with fire ended up with an English inferno.

If the Lions cannot go through the Springbok wall, they might as well scoot around it with the dynamic footwork of Conan and Simmonds. The out-and-out flankers – Tom Curry, Hamish Watson and Justin Tipuric – buzz around like bees. The task is to run the South African heavies ragged.

… who are still effective at set-piece

It is rare for a team to win a match in modern rugby with a dysfunctional line-out, let alone in South Africa.

Every back-rower picked, except Hamish Watson, is a line-out option and the Test side might feature a lock-flanker hybrid at blindside.

The squad’s props have built their reputation on energetic exploits in the loose, but they are also fearsome scrummagers. Andrew Porter can scrum on both sides, and for every one of Mako Vunipola’s scrummaging off days there is an on day, too.

Kick points when offered

While Gatland’s backline is chockfull of frontline goal-kickers – even Conor Murray and Stuart Hogg have place-kicked internationally – the last time the Lions went to South Africa, in 2009, the series was won by Morne Steyn’s last-minute penalty at altitude in the second Test from inside his own half.

With two of three Tests this summer also taking place at altitude, a long-range goal-kicker could be vital. Step forward, Elliot Daly. Four years ago, in another decisive Lions Test – this time against the All Blacks at Eden Park – Daly slotted a monstrous penalty from inside his own half. With that sort of cannon, in Johannesburg, on the Highveld, the England full-back could be slotting them from his own 10-metre line.