British and Irish Lions 2017: Warren Gatland's Johnny Sexton and Owen Farrell gamble one he had to take

Warren Gatland has taken a gamble by deploying Johnny Sexton in the hope of keeping the British and Irish Lions’ test series against the All Blacks alive, with the head coach electing to go for forward power, breakdown cunning and creative prowess in an effort to beat New Zealand for the first time in 24 years.

In starting Sexton alongside Owen Farrell, Gatland is taking a huge risk. The Irishman has proven fairly susceptible to injury over the years and, with the likes of Sonny Bill Williams and Kieran Read charging down his channel, he will face a huge physical challenge in the second Test on Saturday.

However, Gatland does not have many options as the stats do not lie in the Lions favour. They have not beaten the All Blacks in a Test since the second game of the 1993 series, and their one and only series victory came 46 years ago back when lineout jumpers were not lifted and replacements rarely happened.

That is way he has turned to the Sexton and Farrell combination. The pair struck a strong understanding in the 12-3 victory over the Crusaders, although it didn’t quite go to plan when Sexton came on for the final 20 minutes of the first Test last weekend.

The duo will give the Lions an extra dimension in the back line that could unlock the true potential of the quartet outside them that did the damage in the first Test and combined to score one of the great Lions tries of all time. Having two playmakers in Sexton and Farrell will pose the All Blacks more questions in attack, but the issue remains if they can contain the reigning world champions in defence with Sexton a much bigger liability than the powerful Te’o.

The other two changes are no surprise at all, though in Warburton, Gatland is still taking something of a risk. The Welsh flanker, who has not started a match since the 23-22 defeat by the Highlanders on 13 June, has played a total of 172 minutes of rugby not just on this tour but in the last three months. He came into the tour seriously undercooked after suffering a knee injury at the start of April, and suffered a setback when he picked up a sore ankle in the opening victory over the New Zealand Provincial Barbarians.

By his own admission, Warburton needs a full two matches before he feels like he is back to his best, and the fact that he has played little over two games in terms of playing time, without taking into account the ankle injury, suggests he is yet to get back to full fitness. His last two appearances came from the replacements’ bench, and saw him play just 17 and 26 minutes in the game against the Maori All Blacks and the first Test respectively.

But what Warburton will bring is a greater breakdown ferocity than the man he is replacing, Peter O’Mahony, as well as work rate and defensive resistance. All of these things will be needed if the Lions are to reassert themselves in the pack, having been soundly beaten in the collision last Saturday.

That’s also why Itoje is brought into the side. The Saracens lock may be the youngest member of the Lions squad, but he is also one of the most physical and he made a good impression in coming off the bench last weekend. The Lions will lose the nous of Kruis in running the lineout, but at least Itoje has experience of doing the same job in this year’s Six Nations and, if all goes to plan, Saturday could be the making of the young England forward.