Sean O’Brien v Sam Cane

Tour captain Sam Warburton is struggling for form and fitness and the Lions No 7 shirt could go to Ireland’s bulldozing O’Brien. Strong over the ball and with an uncanny knack of snaffling ball from under the opposition’s nose, O’Brien’s greatest asset is his low centre of gravity and ability to power through tackles.

Cane has established himself as New Zealand’s latest high-class openside following in the footsteps of Richie McCaw, Josh Kronfeld and Michael Jones. Technically near-perfect and physically robust, Cane’s workload is immense while he has the rugby intelligence to make sure he is in the right place at the right time. With 40 caps to his name he is already a highly experienced campaigner.