It was not hard to guess which team are leading this series. Steve Hansen has seldom sounded more at ease after announcing his lineup for the second Test, opting for dry wisecracks, sage coaching nuggets and breezy diplomacy in roughly equal measure. If matches were decided solely in front of the pre-game microphones, there would be only one winner on Saturday.

Just down the street on a beautifully clear day, Warren Gatland was having to do far more paddling above and below the surface. It is an occupational hazard for anyone leading a British & Irish Lions squad in New Zealand. His side are 1-0 down against the world’s best team, he has named a second Test side containing two flankers who have never played alongside each other, the weather forecast is lousy and two more players, Robbie Henshaw and George North, have been invalided out of the tour. No wonder Hansen appears the more outwardly serene coach.

The series outcome, however, will be shaped less by soundbites than by coaching nous and selectorial instinct. Hansen loves what he calls the “cut and thrust” of a Lions tour and a triple-bill of muscular chess appeals to his inner grandmaster: “This is why coaches love coaching and players love playing. It’s about reacting and adapting.” Tweaking a winning formula is all part of the fun. “He [Gatland] is going to second-guess what we do and vice versa. If they shut one door, what other door have they just opened? You can’t do everything. That’s the beautiful thing about our game – it is all about space. If you can find it then you are in business.”

Top-level coaching is also about recognising the flip side: making life as claustrophobic for opponents as possible. It is here Hansen is slightly more cautious, aware that Sam Warburton and Maro Itoje could transform the Lions’ breakdown efforts. While the removal of Ben Te’o, George Kruis and Peter O’Mahony reduces some of Gatland’s desired physicality, the Lions hope the combination of an extra tactical kicker, a more hotly contested tackle area and the rain will make up for it.

In response, Hansen will once again remind his players of the ABC acronym his father taught him years ago. “We can assume some things, believe nothing and then, when we get out there, we’ll confirm it,” Hansen recited. “It’s a principle I learned a long time ago. The opposition give you all the options from what they do on defence and that hasn’t changed. Every Lions team, with the talent they’ve got, is going to be hard to beat but how they choose to play with that talent will be interesting. I love these type of Test matches because they really challenge you, both as a coaching group and as a team.”

The ball, in other words, is squarely in Gatland’s tactical court. Having dropped O’Mahony, the Lions’ captain last week, from the 23 – “Peter has been very unlucky” – he urgently needs Owen Farrell and Johnny Sexton to find a way of neutralising Beauden Barrett and Sonny Bill Williams, among others.

“From an attacking perspective I think it’s given us more of an attack option with that 10/12 combination. It also gives us two ball-players and two kicking options ... we are happy with the mix. Looking at the weather forecast it doesn’t look good for Saturday night so we may have to change tactically the way we are going to play.”

The All Blacks, regardless, remain firm favourites but the Lions’ 30-15 defeat in the first Test does slightly complicate things in Hansen’s mind. The touring side have no option but to go flat out and a northern hemisphere referee, France’s Jérôme Garcès, could also assist their do-or-die mission. “Quality teams don’t lie down,” Hansen said. “They stand up and get counted. Losing hurts, it sucks, it’s not a great idea and it comes with a lot of pain so you don’t want to do it. I think they’ll come with everything they’ve got. We need to be prepared for that and bring everything we’ve got to match it.”

This could be interpreted in different ways, with the unsavoury hit on Conor Murray’s standing leg in the first Test not forgotten by the Lions. A couple of alleged misdemeanours by visiting players have also been floated in the local media, although Hansen is rightly phlegmatic. “Rugby is a big boys’ game played by big boys and people with character. A lot of things happen in the heat of the moment and they are definitely not intentional. It’s a hard game we play. There are going to be times when people unintentionally step over the line and do something they might regret later.”

The same applies to coaches who trade insults but both men now insist they want to share a beer and a yarn once the series is done. “I read somewhere I lashed out at Warren Gatland,” Hansen said. “I haven’t lashed out at Warren Gatland at all. I have got a lot of respect for him and we’ve got a lot of common interests. He likes racing horses, so do I; he coaches Wales, I’ve been through that experience myself. I am looking forward to having a beer with him and a chuckle about life.”

Should the Lions bounce back, however, the last laugh could yet be Gatland’s.