Warren Gatland: We’ve got some players with the X-factor to match All Blacks

Warren Gatland’s British & Irish Lions could be about to surprise a few sceptics in New Zealand over the next six weeks.

With the first of a 10-game schedule taking place this morning at a sodden Toll Stadium in Whangarei, 160km north of Auckland, the Lions were set to open their tour against the New Zealand Provincial Barbarians, widely expected to be the weakest of the teams they will face between now and the third Test against the All Blacks on July 8.

Yet with much stiffer opposition to come, starting with the Blues at Eden Park back in Auckland on Wednesday, Gatland was hoping his tourists were aiming to make a firm statement of intent with a convincing victory in Northland today.