He added: “The message we are sending out is it doesn’t matter who you are, you’ve got to perform. There is no guaranteed selection week in, week out.

“It’s how people respond, isn’t it? You want them to respond with a performance, by doing their talking on the field.

“For some of the more senior heads in the side, we know we are looking for stand-out performances from each and every one of them if we are to be able to match the opposition.”

Ospreys fly-half James Hook will feature on the bench if he recovers in time from a knee tendon injury, but 19-year-old Dan Biggar remains on stand-by, while two other changes among the replacements see possible chances for Cardiff Blues prop John Yapp and Newport Gwent Dragons lock Luke Charteris.

The All Blacks, who have comfortably disposed of Scotland and Ireland this month without conceding a try, can boast 19 successive wins against Wales.

And Gatland has no doubt what qualities his players must show in their quest to end that dismal sequence.

Gatland said: “The thing with the All Blacks - we’ve been stressing it this week - is from World Cup to World Cup they are easily the best team in the world and very rarely get tested.

“When they are in front and playing with confidence, there is no-one who can touch them.

“But if you put them under a bit of pressure and the Test match gets into an arm wrestle, that is when you see cracks.

“We’ve seen that in World Cups. If you want to beat them, you’ve got to get them into an arm wrestle and see if you can expose the cracks.

“If you can’t do that, then potentially it can be a blow-out against you.”