Dropping O’driscoll was daring... this looks even bolder

Gatland has staked the tour and his reputation on this gamble. So much rests on it coming off

Brian O’driscoll in 2013. Now Jonathan Sexton and Owen Farrell. Warren Gatland certainly does not shy away from making the big calls. Four years ago it landed him a series win in Australia with O’driscoll’s contentious replacement, Jonathan Davies, part of a back line that romped to victory over the Wallabies. That was a daring move. This is a salvage mission.

The tour rests on this match. The reputation of Gatland will be defined by it one way or the other. If it comes off – and the odds are against it – it will be a masterstroke to rank with the very best.

If it fails, it will be seen as a desperate play to get something from a tour that has been buffeted by various trials and tribulations. It is the last shot for glory.

And it is the death of Warrenball, the simplistic tag that has stuck to Gatland, often needling him as if playing hard-ball, structured rugby with a banging inside centre clearing the way ahead was his preserve alone.

Funnily enough, the All Blacks got nothing but praise for their use of a version of it, with Sonny Bill Williams in the wrecking-ball role, in the first Test at Eden Park. What a role reversal. Now it is the Lions looking to be the creative force.

Of course the pairing of Sexton and Farrell is not a random, gratuitous act. The combination has played in tandem already by design as well as by circumstance, Sexton coming on early against the Crusaders because of an injury as the Lions impressed in victory over New Zealand’s leading franchise, featuring also in the closing stages of the first Test in Auckland.

The dual playmaker role has proven its worth as England have shown with the axis of George Ford and Farrell, the idea being to use their vision and distribution to play the field through their tactical kicking as well as in feeding the outside backs.

Liam Williams’s vivid counterattack at Eden Park that inspired the length-of-the-field try finished by Sean O’brien was a moment of inspiration (or of

desperation) and Gatland clearly wants to bring his strike-runners into the game more often. This is the means to that end.

There is logic underpinning the selection. But there is also risk. And a certain lack of fairness. This is a selection made for the team and not for the individual.

The deposed Ben Te’o has been one of the standout acts in the red jersey, fierce across the gain with devilish intent in his demeanour and some fancy footwork in his feet. Even though Sonny Bill featured in the first Test he did not manage to produce any of those magical, game-shaping offloads that cause such havoc in opposition ranks. Te’o was instrumental in stymieing that part of his game.

It is a desperately tough scenario for the 30-year-old. He has made several telling breaks on this trip although the fact that the Lions have not managed to finish off such opportunities might have been held against him.

There is a certain surprise in