British and Irish Lions 2017: Warren Gatland puts faith in Liam Williams to take fight to the All Blacks

The Wales full-back was picked ahead of Leigh Halfpenny as reward for his performance against the Chiefs this week, but now Gatland expects him to deliver

Liam Williams starts the first Test for the British and Irish Lions against New Zealand at full-back (Getty)

After keeping a number of selection tricks up his sleeve, Warren Gatland finally showed his hand by naming his British and Irish Lions side for the first Test against the All Blacks this Saturday, the biggest of which saw Liam Williams named at full-back ahead of Leigh Halfpenny.

Choosing to leave tour captain Sam Warburton out of his starting line-up, Gatland will turn to forward Peter O’Mahony to lead his side against the reigning world champions, but it was his decisions behind the scrum that really caught the eye.

Gatland rewarded both Williams and Elliot Daly for their impressive performances in last Tuesday’s 34-6 victory over the Chiefs, with Halfpenny named among the replacements and George North missing out on the squad completely. The head coach explained on Thursday that his thinking behind the decision stemmed from Williams’ display in Hamilton, and he now hopes that the 26-year-old rewards him for his show of faith with a strong performance in the first Test at Eden Park.

The decision to play Williams at full-back was all the more surprising given that Gatland last week claimed that he sees him as a wing rather than a 15, but his ability to bring himself into the action convinced Gatland to select him rather than the more reliable Halfpenny.

“I said in my opinion I think wing is his best position,” Gatland said. “He can get involved in the game a lot. But I’ve also been consistent in saying selection would come down to form and the players who played on Tuesday night would still have an opportunity to go and impress.

“He [Williams] did that. He was elusive, he caused the Chiefs a lot of damage, he played well and so he has been given an opportunity at 15.”

The All Blacks head coach, Steve Hansen, made a few surprising calls of his own with his selection of Ryan Crotty at outside centre and Waisake Naolo on the wing, with the influential Julian Savea missing out despite his incredible tally of 47 tries in 53 appearances. Hansen was able to at least recall captain Kieran Read to his side after the No 8 recovered from a broken thumb, but Gatland may be buoyed by the decision to leave out try machine Savea.

It could help his chances of ending the Lions’ 46-year wait to beat the All Blacks across a Test series, something that the Kiwi opened up about with his memories of that famous 1971 tour and how it changed his perception in rugby union, not to mention how it also demonstrates the scale of the challenge ahead of his squad.

“I thought rugby was invented in New Zealand growing up,” he said. “I didn't think the All Blacks could ever be beaten. It did have a big impact on me, it was the first time I realised the game was played in other parts of the world.

“It's times 11 the Lions have been to New Zealand, it's only once before they've won. It is tough because you're putting a group of players together in such a short period.”

Much of these hopes will lie on his side’s ability to put points past the All Blacks. Warburton has previously said that the Lions will need to score over 20 points in each game to beat the three-time Rugby World Cup winners, and Gatland believes he has seen the right signs to achieve that over the six warm-up matches, most notably in the wins over the Maori All Blacks and the Crusaders.


 Warren Gatland decided to leave captain Sam Warburton out of the starting line-up 
 (Getty)

“We squeezed the life out of those two teams and we won't stop being aggressive defensively,” he added. “We've created opportunities, early on the tour we weren't finishing, but on Tuesday we started to do that.

“I think we've played some lovely rugby. We struggled at the start of the tour, but we've scored nine to three tries in the last four games. I can't fault the players if we're getting some success by dominating up front.

“We're not going to be talked into playing Barbarian-type rugby when we've got certain weapons we can use to our advantage, and that's being smart about how you play.

“Hopefully we can be strong at set-piece and strong defensively at the weekend, and when the opportunities arise we can get in behind the All Blacks and finish the opportunities we create.”

The Lions will also have a strong bench to call upon if the game remains a tight affair in the closing stages. The likes of Warburton, Halfpenny and Johnny Sexton are sure to be introduced at some point during the Test, with Gatland admitting that Wednesday’s team selection meeting with his coaches provided “good healthy debate”.

Sam Warburton will start Saturday's Test on the bench (Getty)

One of his big decisions was to show faith with Alun Wyn Jones for his performance against the Crusaders, with Maro Itoje left on the replacements’ bench despite playing a starring role in the win over the Maori. Jones will bring valuable experience and leadership, although Gatland interestingly decided not to give him the captaincy as he did in Warburton’s absence in 2013 for the final Lions Test against Australia.

Itoje may feel hard-done by, but he will still play a valuable role in coming off the bench as well as covering both the second-row and blindside flanker, should he be needed in the back-row. However, for now Gatland will stick with three-time tourist Jones, even if he could not do the same with Warburton.