British and Irish Lions head coach Warren Gatland expects to see the competitor in Johnny Sexton when the Lions take the field on Saturday.
Sexton has been selected for the first game on tour against the Provincial Barbarians, with Gatland admitting he needs more time on the field after a lacklustre performance in the PRO12 semi-final.
The Ireland number ten was a key player in the successful 2013 series in Australia and Gatland will be hoping for a similar impact from a player he described as “one of the best 10s in world rugby”.
England fly-half Owen Farrell is on the bench for the game in Whangarai, with Wales number ten Dan Biggar the other fly-half in the 41-man squad.
“Johnny has been great. He knows he’s under (pressure), knows he needs to get some games under his belt,” Gatland told the Daily Mail.
“He knows that the competition is pretty fierce in that position, but he’s a competitor and that’s what has made him one of the best 10s in world rugby. I’ve got no doubt he’d want a good performance from himself on Saturday.
“We’re starting Johnny because he hasn’t played a lot of rugby. The three 10s came in together but we felt Johnny needed to start this first game, get some rugby under his belt and get off to a good start because he hasn’t played a huge amount.
“His first concern was who’s going to do the goal-kicking because Greig (Laidlaw at scrum-half) is obviously a quality goalkicker as well.
“But Neil Jenkins told him he is (kicking). He is confident and happy enough with that decision.”
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