Preparation time may have been strictly limited but the 2017 British & Irish Lions will launch their tour of New Zealand on Saturday with no lack of optimism. Sam Warburton will lead a positive-looking XV against the NZ Provincial Barbarians in Whangarei and his squad firmly believe they have the potential to make a strong impression on their hosts.

Warren Gatland’s first selection has been shaped inevitably by end-of-season domestic commitments which forced a quarter of his squad to miss the two pre‑tour training camps in Wales and Ireland. Consequently the starting lineup largely comprises players whose clubs did not make the play-offs, with the choice of Jonathan Sexton at fly-half perhaps the most interesting selection.

Sexton looked unusually out of sorts for Leinster on his last outing and Gatland clearly sees value in giving him an early chance to reassert himself. Ben Te’o and Kyle Sinckler, not yet regular starters for England, are both involved from the outset alongside the Scottish trio of Stuart Hogg, Tommy Seymour and Greig Laidlaw, with Gatland challenging everyone to make an instant impact. “It is important these guys lay down a marker for others to follow,” the head coach said.

“We’ve picked the team for Saturday but it is still the plan to try and give the whole squad a start in the next two matches. It is important the players get that opportunity because if they go well and the team goes well they put themselves in the shop window for a Test start.”

Toby Faletau also believes these Lions may surprise one or two Kiwis. “Within the squad we believe we’ve got a good team capable of winning out here, whether it’s the warmup games or the series,” the Bath No8 said. The only caveat is that the entire squad has spent so few hours practising together it was a slight surprise not to see players sprinting across the airport tarmac to the nearest available training paddock upon arrival in Auckland. In the event they paused long enough to participate in a traditional nose-rubbing Maori welcome ceremony and sing the Welsh hymn Calon Lan but “disappointing” was the word again used by John Spencer, the Lions manager, to sum up the madcap schedule.

The players were at least able to grab six hours’ sleep en route in a Melbourne airport hotel and Warburton, who has an 11-month-old baby at home, joked he is already enjoying more rest than he has had recently. The Wales flanker will not care, however, if his team cause New Zealanders to doze off on this tour as long as the Lions keep winning. “I don’t care how we win,” he said. “If we won every game 3-0 I’d bite your arm off. It’s all about winning at this level. It’s nice from a spectator’s point of view to have lots of tries, but I’d take a win all day long.”

Warburton will also not allow jetlag to be used as any kind of excuse for a slow start but did concede the Lions will happily suffer a couple of warmup defeats if it means ending up as the first Lions side since 1971 to win a series in New Zealand.

“It’s all about the Test series,” said Warburton, who led the Lions on their successful 2013 tour of Australia. “The provincial games are important to win but we’ve got to realise the next three, four weeks are big learning weeks for us. We just need to get better and better after each fixture.”

The 10-match schedule will certainly test the mettle of the entire 41-man squad. In addition to the Barbarians game, the Lions are due to play four of the five New Zealand Super Rugby franchises and the New Zealand Maori prior to the first Test on 24 June. Within that slender time frame they are also set to attend another official welcome ceremony in the Bay of Islands and flit between a string of cities on the North and South islands. The itinerary has all the hallmarks of something cunningly designed by the Marquis de Sade. Given the Lions’ overall Test record in New Zealand dating back to 1904 reads six wins, three draws and 29 losses, it is going to be nothing if not a challenge.

The All Blacks lose at home roughly as often as it snows in the Cook Islands and local newspapers are already dealing in entertainingly daft headlines before a ball has been kicked. “Welcome to the Jungle” and “Plot to counter haka” screamed the front page of the New Zealand Herald, only to reveal on an inside page that the fiendish “plot” in question involves Lions players singing traditional standards, also including Jerusalem, Highland Cathedral and Fields of Athenry, in polite response to their hosts’ welcome. It hardly rates as counter-espionage on a grand scale.

Of more relevance to Lions players is getting on to the field as soon as humanly possible. Warburton was forced to delay his entrance because of injury four years ago and is glad to be in action earlier this time as part of an all-Welsh back-row. “I think I played the third game and was the last guy in that squad to play a game,” he recalled. “You just want to get the Lions jersey in the kitbag.”

Lions (v NZ Provincial Barbarians, Saturday): S Hogg; A Watson, J Joseph, B Te’o, T Seymour; J Sexton, G Laidlaw; J Marler, R Best, K Sinckler, A W Jones, I Henderson, R Moriarty, S Warburton (capt), T Faletau.

Replacements: J George, M Vunipola, T Furlong, G Kruis, J Tipuric, R Webb, Farrell, J Payne.