Their reshuffled centre pairing of Owen Farrell and Jonathan Joseph may be untested but Jones believes the former has the necessary qualities.
It left a centre pairing of Mike Tindall, never the quickest despite his 75 England caps, and Ryan Mills, playing his first game of the season.
Gatland said he expected the recall of the flanker Schalk Burger was an attempt by South Africa to disrupt the centre pairing of Jamie Roberts and Brian O'Driscoll which has been the Lions' most potent weapon this tour.
Whereas the England midfield of Wilkinson, in his first Test for 20 months, Shane Geraghty and Dan Hipkiss struggled to breach the gain line, the masterful Matt Giteau and an unfamiliar centre pairing of Quade Cooper and Digby Ioane gradually turned the screw.
Even so, assuming the forwards are competitive in the set-piece, a back division featuring a centre pairing of Peter Betham and Matt Smith has responded enthusiastically and with impressive effect to the creative promptings of the new head coach, the former All-Black Aaron Mauger.
Andy Robinson's team should cover a 14-point handicap this weekend at 10-11 with Ladbrokes but their centre pairing of Jamie Noon and Mike Tindall looks limited and Robinson's preferred game plan does not bear comparison with the invention and flair of the French.
Of course, England have not been able to settle on a centre pairing of their own for more than a decade, and while Jones is keen to see Henry Slade and Manu Tuilagi in tandem, neither the young playmaker from Exeter nor the human bowling ball from Leicester are currently available to him.
They will move the ball quite a bit but with the team, and the squad, he has picked we are going to see some big ball carrying – take a look at that centre pairing of Jonathan Davies and Roberts – to create a gain line advantage.
But they met a solid wall of white with second row Jones directing proceedings and the young centre pairing of Tom Isaacs and Ben John also prominent.
The side also features an established combination in the Welsh centre pairing of Jamie Roberts and Jonathan Davies, while in Warburton's absence, the talented Tipuric gets an early chance to shine as part of an all-Welsh back row.
A couple of years ago, Scott Johnson hailed Matt Scott and Alex Dunbar as a centre pairing for the ages.
