British and Irish Lions coach Warren Gatland is tipping plenty of lively debate in today's Test selection meeting after his supposed second-string troops outclassed the Chiefs 34-6 in Hamilton.
British & Irish Lions head Coach Warren Gatland Photo: PHOTOSPORT
The hosts barely had a sniff on home soil, as a mid-week Lions squad - missing most of the players expected to play the All Blacks on Saturday - picked them apart at will, running in four tries and dominating from first to last.
Despite their struggles, the Chiefs remained within touching distance until early in the second half, when blindside Mitchell Brown was sent to the sin-bin for helping collapse a maul on his own line - and conceded a penalty try to boot.
They then gave up breakaway five-pointers to winger Jack Nowell - who had earlier bagged one - and the Kiwi-born Jared Payne, ending the contest.
Gatland will have plenty to think about before his meeting with the other Lions coaches today, given a host of positive squad performances.
Dan Biggar controlled the side with aplomb from first-five, while the likes of Nowell, Dan Cole, CJ Stander and Courtney Lawes impressed.
Their involvement in Saturday's Test wasn't ruled out.
(L-R) Coaches Steve Borthwick and Rob Howley, head coach Warren Gatland and coach Andy Farrell. Photo: INPHO / Photosport
"The result was the first priority, and then the performance - we got a bit of both so I was pretty happy, and some guys have put their hand up," Gatland said.
"The way (selection) always works, I can tell you from experiences in the past, is that it's always a consensus of that group, it's never one person's call.
"The selection meeting with the coaches tomorrow will be tough, (but) that's the way you want it - guys put their hand up tonight, and I have no doubt there'll be some healthy debate about the Lions Test side."
Sloppiness at the set-piece brought about much of the understrength Chiefs' undoing, squandering three lineouts and a trio of penalties at scrum-time.
Yet while the mid-week Lions enjoyed most of the first-half territory and possession - and produced a more eye-catching style than their Test comrades - they struggled to convert it into points, with few genuine try-scoring chances.
Englishman Nowell's 25th-minute first was secured via a leaping effort from a pick-and-go, before the floodgates opened for the Lions in the second stanza.
Gatland said he was chuffed for Nowell, who struggled to assert himself in his two previous games, and with another suffocating defensive performance.
"We're getting stronger and stronger in that area against the best attacking teams in world rugby, who score multiple tries week-in and week-out, and we're starting to strangle them a little bit with the way we're defending," Gatland said.
"But on Saturday we're up against the best team in the world in their own back yard, a place they haven't been beaten at since 1994.
"It's going to be a completely new level."
AAP