Warren Gatland reckons selecting the Lions team for the first South African Test was his hardest yet, revealing that neither he nor his coaches had picked the eventual line-up earlier this week.
The Lions boss, on his fourth tour and third as head coach, said it took an hour and a half to whittle down his choices on Monday.
Eventually he emerged with Ali Price at scrum-half ahead of Conor Murray, Alun Wyn Jones starting at lock in his 10th Lions Test, Stuart Hogg over Liam Williams at full-back, Luke Cowan-Dickie at hooker and Duhan van der Merwe over Josh Adams on the wing.
Warren Gatland says his first Lions selection was the toughest he has faced in his entire career
Mako Vunipola led the surprise omissions, having previously been a mainstay in the team
'It was the hardest selection meeting I have ever been involved with,' said Gatland.
'I know a lot of people think it's the team that I select, but that's never been the way whether with the Lions or with Wales. It's important that, as coaches, we all have an input into the make-up of the squad.
'I can tell you that not one of the coaches got the 23 they came along to the meeting with, I think that's a credit to the players - we were all thinking about different permutations and combinations and what the make-up of the 23 looked like.
'There was a long discussion and, to give you an idea, in the forward pack we had four of the same eight and in the backline we had three of the same seven between the five of us.
Gatland and his coaches spent around 90 minutes whittling down his choices and admitted the quality of his squad made the decision difficult for them
'It just goes to show how tough it was in terms of that selection, but it's a great place to be because there's so many players in the squad putting their hands up and making it difficult for us.
'We had a pretty tasty training session yesterday, a little bit of niggle and stuff.
'That's exactly what we wanted, I take my hat off the guys that were helping that Test team, they really fronted up and trained exceptionally well.
'You couldn't ask for more from a coaching perspective.'
On selecting South African-born Van der Merwe - one of three Scots in the line-up, the most since 1997 when Gregor Townsend, Alan Tait and Tom Smith played - Gatland added: 'It's a challenge for him. I spoke to him yesterday about what's coming on the weekend and he was fully aware because I presume every time he touches the ball, they'll be trying to hit him with everything they've got and there will probably be some verbals as well.
Ali Price's inclusion ahead of stand-in captain Conor Murray is another bold
