Those two victories and performances have set up a fascinating three-match series between the reigning world champions and a Lions side seeking to win back-to-back series' for the first time since 1971 and 1974.
And the tourists did just that with a combination of smothering defence and precise kicking pinning the Maori back.
Apart from a try against the run of play to captain Liam Messam in the first half, the Maori were unable to mount any coherent attacking play and their spirit flagged against the smothering defense that the Lions sustained for all 80 minutes.
But that was a rare foray into the 22 for the Maori and the hosts barely got out of their own half after the break as the visitors' power up front told.
Kerr-Barlow was sinbinned for a risky shoulder tackle on Lions fullback Leigh Halfpenny allowing the visitors to extend their advantage from 15-10 to 29-10 while the scrumhalf was on the sideline shortly after halftime.
"There's opportunities for players to go out and perform and you never know; we won't sit down as a coaching team to pick the (Test) team until Wednesday and that's only fair to the players who are taking the field on Tuesday", Gatland said. The pack was outstanding, with Maro Itoje putting in a colossal shift, so too Taulupe Faletau.
The Worcester back was the visitors' most unsafe attacking threat, running for 70m in total and being able to break the gainline against a big, physical side.
Gatland has spoken all along about how he wants to wrap the matchday squad in cotton wool ahead of Saturday, meaning he has an extremely good idea of the make-up of the starting 15 and bench.
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The Lions forwards carried the ball forward strongly, keeping possession through long series of phases which sapped the strength and resistance of the Maori and steadily broke down their resistance.
"I think they were all pretty keen to play", Rennie said.
"Because it was picked up on a couple of occasions [on Saturday] they stopped doing it as much".
"He is a little bit more anxious than he normally is, saying these comments about us, things he knows about or doesn't know about, that is normally a sign of a man that is a little bit anxious", Gatland said of Hansen.
He said they did the same thing on the 2013 tour for the midweek match against ACT before the first test against Australia.
Replacements: K Dacey (Wales), A Dell (Scotland), T Francis, C Hill, AW Jones, G Davies (all Wales), F Russell, T Seymour (both Scotland).
Laidlaw will combine with Wales flyhalf Dan Biggar on Tuesday while the Ireland pair of Robbie Henshaw and Jared Payne will start in midfield, beside Daly and England winger Jack Nowell.
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