British and Irish Lions 2017: Sam Warburton and Maro Itoje in line to start with Courtney Lawes also in the mix

Sam Warburton and Maro Itoje are in line to start the second Test against the All Blacks after Warren Gatland was left far from impressed with the British and Irish Lions’ lack of physicality in Saturday’s 30-15 defeat, something that the head coach admitted has dented their pride.

Gatland is ready to shake up his forward pack after seeing the Lions lose the dominance that they enjoyed in earlier tour matches to a New Zealand pack that hit all the right notes at Eden Park to preserve their 23-year unbeaten streak in Auckland.

Warburton looks poised to return to the starting line-up in place of stand-in captain Peter O’Mahony, with the Welsh flanker impressing Gatland with his 26-minute shift on Saturday, while Sean O’Brien’s place in the back-row looks safe following a strong display that saw him compete for the ball in the breakdown repeatedly and finish one of the greatest tries ever scored by the Lions.

The 28-year-old Warburton was left out of the squad that will face the Hurricanes on Tuesday, with Ireland skipper Rory Best once again leading the side after last weekend’s destructive 34-6 win over the Chiefs.

Asked if Warburton has enough minutes under his belt after recent knee and ankle injuries to start Saturday’s second Test at Westpac Stadium, Gatland answered: “Quite possibly, yeah. We want to see how Tuesday night goes. Like I said I thought him and Itoje were very good coming off the bench for us on Saturday night.

“I thought Sam Warburton was excellent as well at the breakdown when he came on.

“We’ll just have to wait and see until we sit down and see how Tuesday night goes.”

Gatland’s decision to hold on until Thursday morning in Wellington before telling his squad who will face the All Blacks in the must-win semi-final partly depends on how Courtney Lawes goes against the Hurricanes. However, it would appear that Itoje looks assured of a place in the starting line-up, with both George Kruis and Alun Wyn Jones at risk of missing out on a place in the side.

Gatland was unhappy with how the Lions lost the contact battle against the physically imposing New Zealand pack, and while Itoje will almost certainly come in, he could yet be joined by Lawes if the Northampton Saint has another impressive performance this week.

“Sometimes it's an attitude thing, getting off the line and winning collisions,” he explained. “It's just a mental thing. In fairness to them [New Zealand], they were pretty aggressive at the breakdown; came hard and won the collisions.

“It's disappointing, sometimes that's a pride factor you know?

“It's as simple as mentally getting things right. You have to challenge the players mentally for that physical challenge and on Saturday that's one area they got the better of us, I'll be frank about that.

“We need to make sure that we're a lot more physical in the contact area in both attack and defence. If we get that right the transfer from that area to other parts of the game will be huge.”

Itoje, the youngest Lions on the tour at 22 years old, looks set to benefit most from Gatland’s desire to fight fire with fire. The Saracens lock was a notable omission from the starting line-up for the first Test, and with Jones struggling throughout the first 20 minutes after taking a heavy knock and Kruis failing to impose with his carrying, Gatland is ready to turn to the Saracens lock even if he has to call the lineout, despite only doing this on the international stage during England’s recent Six Nations campaign.

“We might have to shake it up a little bit,” said Gatland. “I think someone like Maro Itoje made an impact coming off the bench and was very physical.

“He’s been doing that [calling the lineout] a lot in training and he’s been doing that when he’s come on and taken that role. If he needs to be able to do it then…those players have all been around.”