Eyebrows were raised when Gatland named the likes of Owen Farrell, Conor Murray and Liam Williams among the replacements.

This does lead to Stuart Hogg and Ali Price becoming the first Scottish players in 20 years to be named in a Lions starting XV.

Gatland said they need a strong bench to counter the Springboks.

“It's not just about the starting XV. Looking at South Africa and particularly up front and their bench, we wanted to make sure that the balance was right and how important the bench was going to be and having experienced players come off the bench.

“So, you've players like Conon Murray, Liam Williams and Owen Farrell who are disappointed to not be involved, but having that experience they get a chance to come on and hopefully close the game out for us. We're really happy with the depth of our bench.

Saturday’s 1st Test at the Cape Town Stadium kicks off at 18:00.

Springboks - 15 Willie le Roux, 14 Cheslin Kolbe, 13 Lukhanyo Am, 12 Damian de Allende, 11 Makazole Mapimpi, 10 Handre Pollard, 9 Faf de Klerk, 8 Kwagga Smith, 7 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 6 Siya Kolisi (captain), 5 Franco Mostert, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Trevor Nyakane, 2 Bongi Mbonambi, 1 Ox Nche.

Replacements - 16 Malcolm Marx, 17 Steven Kitshoff, 18 Frans Malherbe, 19 Lood de Jager, 20 Rynhardt Elstadt, 21 Herschel Jantjies, 22 Elton Jantjies, 23 Damian Willemse.

British & Irish Lions - 15 Stuart Hogg (Scotland), 14 Anthony Watson (England), 13 Elliot Daly (England), 12 Robbie Henshaw (Ireland), 11 Duhan van der Merwe (Scotland), 10 Dan Biggar (Wales), 9 Ali Price (Scotland), 8 Jack Conan (Ireland), 7 Tom Curry (England), 6 Courtney Lawes, 5 Alun Wyn Jones (captain, Wales), 4 Maro Itoje (England), 3 Tadhg Furlong (Ireland), 2 Luke Cowan-Dickie (England), 1 Wyn Jones (Wales).

Replacements - 16 Ken Owens (Wales), 17 Rory Sutherland (Scotland), 18 Kyle Sinckler (England), 19 Tadhg Beirne (Ireland), 20 Hamish Watson (Scotland), 21 Conor Murray (Ireland), 22 Owen Farrell (England), 23 Liam Williams (Wales).

@MorganPiek OFM Sport