British and Irish Lions 2017: Johnny Sexton starts as Sam Warburton leads side against All Blacks for second Test

Sexton joins Owen Farrell in the starting line-up with Warburton and Maro Itoje named in the pack as Warren Gatland rolls the dice in bid to keep Lions series alive

Sam Warburton will return to captain the British and Irish Lions for the must-win second Test against the All Blacks this Saturday in Wellington, with head coach Warren Gatland pairing Jonathan Sexton and Owen Farrell together in a roll of the dice to try and keep their hopes of a series victory alive.

The Lions must win at Westpac Stadium this weekend if they are to keep any hopes of a series victory alive, having lost the first Test at Eden Park last Saturday 30-15, but they will attempt to do so knowing that they have only twice won a Test series after losing the opening games – and never before against New Zealand.

Gatland makes four changes to his side, one of which is a positional switch, and while both Warburton and Maro Itoje were expected to come into the side to beef up a pack that was physically dominated by New Zealand, Gatland has taken the extraordinary risk of pairing Sexton together with Farrell, with Ben Te’o the unlucky individual to miss out.

Warburton replaces stand-in captain Peter O’Mahony at blindside flanker, meaning that Sean O’Brien will continue at openside, while Itoje comes in for his England colleague George Kruis, who pays the price for an off-colour performance last weekend as well as a turn-out for the mid-week side on Tuesday.

Sexton will start at fly-half for the first time since the victory over the Maori All Blacks, a game that Farrell sat out with a mild thigh strain, and Farrell will shift to the 12 shirt where he will line-up directly opposite Sonny Bill Williams. Te’o did a good job last weekend of making a physical impression on Williams and doing his best to nullify his offloading ability, but while the England centre is unlucky to be left out of the starting line-up – given he is fit – the Sexton-Farrell axis was widely tipped to be Gatland’s strongest mid-field combination at his disposal.

That said, it is something that Gatland has not looked to develop during game time, with the pair playing together for 50 minutes in the victory over the Crusaders and a further 23 minutes in the first test defeat.

It means that Gatland has chosen to keep the attacking back-three trio of Elliot Daly, Anthony Watson and Liam Williams together, having inflicted damage on the All Blacks along with outside centre Jonathan Davies, while Conor Murray will continue at scrum-half despite injuring his hand when he was shoved to the ground by Brodie Retallick after kicking the ball away – something that will be under close scrutiny this weekend following Gatland’s claim that the Irishman is being deliberately targeted.

Mako Vunipola, Jamie George and Tadhg Furlong continue in the front-row, with Alun Wyn Jones chosen to partner Itoje in the second-row with the latter likely to lead the lineout in the absence of Kruis, while Taulupe Faletau continues at No 8 to join Warburton and O’Brien in the back-row.

British and Irish Lions team vs New Zealand:

Liam Williams; Anthony Watson, Jonathan Davies, Owen Farrell, Elliot Daly; Jonathan Sexton, Conor Murray; Mako Vunipola, Jamie George, Tadhg Furlong; Alun Wyn Jones, Maro Itoje; Sam Warburton, Sean O’Brien, Taulupe Faletau.

Replacements: Ken Owens, Jack McGrath, Kyle Sinckler, Courtney Lawes, CJ Stander, Rhys Webb, Ben Te’o, Jack Nowell.