'It’s an opportunity for the guys to stake a claim': Warren Gatland’s mind fluid in terms of Test 15

The gauntlet has been thrown down to the players who will now face the Stormers

British & Irish Lions head coach Warren Gatland. Picture: INPHO/Billy Stickland

Warren Gatland will go into Saturday's British & Irish Lions’ final tour game before next week’s opening Test against South Africa keeping an open mind as to which of his squad will get the call to arms when the series finally gets underway Saturday week.

There was a time when selection for the final match before a Lions series opener spelled disaster for a player’s ambitions of a coveted place in the Test team. The game was usually on the Wednesday before and head coaches would have kept their Test XV under wraps just a few days out from the focal point of their Southern Hemisphere adventures to that point.