Gatland hopes players stake claims in Hurricanes clash

Warren Gatland is hoping the likes of George North and Courtney Lawes can make the most of chances to impress when the British and Irish Lions face the Hurricanes on Tuesday.

The Lions have named a predictably much-changed team for their next tour match, which will take place just three days after their first-Test defeat to New Zealand.

Wales wing North was a surprise omission for Saturday’s contest at Eden Park, with Elliot Daly preferred on the left wing.

Asked at a news conference if North would be hell-bent on proving a point ahead of next weekend’s second Test, Lions head coach Gatland replied: “Let’s hope so. There’s a chance for him to go and make an impact.

“He was disappointed he wasn’t involved in the first Test and he gets a chance to go out there and impress.”

“There are a lot of players motivated to go out and get a result for the whole group.”

Warren Gatland on #HURvBIL https://t.co/hpXMs4w6mx pic.twitter.com/Cvc6IzCIDV

— British&Irish Lions (@lionsofficial) June 25, 2017

Lawes has been among those tipped to potentially break into the Test side after the Lions were beaten 30-15 in Auckland.

“He’s been unlucky with injuries and knocks,” said Gatland of the England lock. “I know he gets managed by England in terms of the amount of training that he does.

“He’s had a little bit of a hip flexor [problem] that has kept him out of training the last few days. Again, he’s one of the players who gets a chance to go out and impress, and he has done well so far on tour, so let’s hope he has a good performance.

“I think the players on Tuesday night will realise there’s an opportunity for them to go out and impress. We keep saying that the message from 2013 is there were significant changes between the first, second and third Tests in Australia, so there will be opportunities on Tuesday night.”