Gatland is set for his third Lions Tour as head coach, following a famous 2-1 win in Australia in 2013 and 1-1 draw in New Zealand four years later. Gatland is currently in his native New Zealand coaching the Chiefs after leaving his post with Wales following last year's World Cup. New Zealand have a strong recent record against the world champion Springboks, winning 13 of their last 16 meetings, and Marshall, who was part of the All Blacks side that beat the Lions 3-0 in 2005, believes Gatland will tap into that knowledge ahead of next summer’s series. “He has shown and proven he loves that challenge, it’s where he grits his teeth,” the former scrum-half told lionsrugby.com. “I know that when the Lions hit South Africa, I know – even though he has been operating down here – he knows what a Tour is all about and he knows the calibre of player he wants to pick. “And more importantly, he might, after a couple of years in New Zealand, learn something himself. “He might bring back a slightly different way to defend and unsettle South Africa that he’s not seen in the northern hemisphere and that New Zealand use. Or see how the All Blacks like to attack the Springboks and where they are vulnerable. “I think it might be an innovative way to initiate something for the Lions. There will be things down here that they haven’t seen and Warren might be able to bring them into the camp. I think it’s great for both parties that he will be in charge and it will help with the Tour.” The dates for next summer’s eight-match Tour were confirmed on Wednesday, with the Lions kicking off proceedings against the Stormers in Cape Town on Saturday July 3. The three-match Test series starts in Johannesburg on July 24 and moves to Cape Town a week later before returning to Johannesburg on Saturday August 7. The series will be Gatland’s second in South Africa, after he toured as Sir Ian McGeechan’s assistant in 2009.

At that stage, he was less than two years into his spell as Wales head coach, which he held until last year, and where he won four Six Nations titles, including three Grand Slams.

in a poll for their 60

anniversary edition last month and Marshall believes New Zealand rugby will benefit from his stint with the Chiefs, just as much as he will. “We have got him here at the moment and I was an advocate of that,” he added. “There was a debate about the merits of having him back in New Zealand, some were for it and some weren’t. And my point was, would we not want to have one of the greatest minds in the game come back and teach us something? “We are very insular in this country, and think what we think and know is best. Well, he has been to New Zealand and worked us out. He drew a Lions series against us. “He has been on the big stage countless amount of times and won big Test matches. He has made big decisions, I always think back to when he named the team for the decider against Australia in 2013. He even dropped Brian [O’Driscoll] for that Test, yet they won. He’s won Grand Slams too. “He is motivated by the big occasion and sometimes on big occasions, we in New Zealand have let ourselves down. “You think about all those World Cups up until we won again in 2011 and maybe the Lions series in 2017. Also, the last World Cup where we let the rest of the world catch us. “Warren Gatland has coached all of those players and been in all of those environments, so first and foremost he is a man for the big occasion and there is no bigger one than the Lions.”