Gerry Thornley: Lions embrace Maori welcome with Calon Lân

Fresh-faced and smartly suited, the 41-man Lions squad – along with an off-pitch backroom team of similar numbers – were left in little doubt as to the focus they will be placed under over the coming six weeks in New Zealand by the size of the media pack which greeted them upon arrival at a sunny Auckland on Wednesday.

There were almost as many journalists, and camera crews for television and on-line outlets, as there were Lions supporters in replica jerseys, around 50 or so.

Having set off from London on Monday morning, the squad had an overnight stop in Melbourne, which of course had nothing to do with Qantas being one of their six main commercial partners, and landed just before 12.30pm local time (1.30am Irish) to blue skies and temperatures of around 14 or 15 degrees.

They received their first welcome in the arrival area with a traditional powhiri, as a performing arts troupe was accompanied by New Zealand Rugby (NZR) president Maurice Trapp and chief executive Steve Tew to welcome the Lions. A traditional call was made on a Maori conch to acknowledge the arrival of the team before a wero was laid by an armed Maori warrior or elder, and then accepted by the Lions captain Sam Warburton.

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Following a haka and speeches – the Lions tour manager John Spencer both began and ended his speech in Maori – a traditional waiata was performed and then, in response, Warburton turned and nodded to the Lions squad, who broke into a rendition of Calon Lân, a Welsh hymn traditionally associated with rugby.

Choir practice has been a compulsory part of the Lions’ get-togethers in the Vale of Glamorgan and Carton House Hotel over the last two weeks in readiness for welcomes such as this, and the other songs to be adopted by the Lions on this tour are The Fields of Athenry, Jerusalem and Highland Cathedral.

The squad then came through customs, where some players stopped and posed for selfies, while Warren Gatland moved between the phalanx of microphones and cameras which greeted him while seeking out his wife Trudi.

“It’s good to be home and we’re really excited,” said Gatland by way of his opening remarks. “It’s nice that Auckland turned the weather on for us as well. The boys have had a good trip and we’re really looking forward to what we know is going to be an incredibly tough challenge.”

Asked if now it all felt a little more real, Gatland said: “Yes, it does. There was a bit of a bonus in the four days we had in Ireland; we had 30 players running when we were expecting 20 players. It was a bonus with a couple of teams being knocked out in semi-finals. That was good for us.

We're going to be mixing and rotating as best we can in the first few games to give players a chance

“So we’ve had some good time together and there’ll probably be a bit of a catch-up for a few players over the next few days but hopefully we can recover pretty quickly, and acclimatise, and get ourselves up for Saturday.”

Drawing on his experience as an assistant coach eight years ago and head coach four years ago, Gatland added that the “big challenge” for the Lions in the initial stages of this intense, 10-match tour, “is that you’ve got to create harmony within this group, and we’ve a lot of players and you’ve got to give them an opportunity.

“So we’re going to be mixing and rotating as best we can in the first few games to give players a chance. When you come this far and you play in a game at least then you feel you’re a part of it. So that’s something we need to do in the first three games, give everyone a start and a chance before we start thinking about the test matches.”

Reflecting on the welcome they received, Gatland said: “It’s been part of my job in the last few weeks just prepping the guys just what to expect culturally when you arrive in New Zealand. I know from (the) 2011 (World Cup) that a lot of teams came very much unprepared about what was going to happen and we felt we had done a good job with Wales, so we’ve been working pretty hard to ensure we’re prepared, that nothing is a surprise to the guys with the welcome today.

We responded and sang, and we’ve got a welcome in Waitangi on Sunday after the (opening) game as well.”

We’ve done our work so that guys know what to expect, and when someone gets close to you to give you a ‘hongi’, to embrace it,” added Gatland in reference to the traditional Maori greeting of pressing nose and forehead together.

“It’s part of the culture and the welcome. Look, we’re really excited about being here, the guys who have toured here before and the new players too.”

The warmth of this welcome is set against a few barbs coming the way of the Lions, and particularly Gatland himself, both from the media and Steve Hansen, and the likelihood that the "passionate" home fans will be whipped into a relative frenzy.

“That’s New Zealand. The fans are passionate. We know and we’re very well aware that there’s a little bit of bridge building required from 2005,” admitted Gatland into the 2005 tour, which was both a rugby playing and public relations disaster.

“There are important things that we do, on and off the field, in the way that we conduct ourselves and handle ourselves in New Zealand, and we want to go a long way toward doing those things. The Lions, in my time, have been very much involved in doing community stuff and getting out there, and visiting schools and hospitals, and having a few open sessions as well, and hopefully play some good rugby.

“If we can win some hearts and minds off the field, and play some good rugby on it, then hopefully we’re going to end up with a cracking tour. I think that’s what everyone wants. I don’t think any of us wants any sort of controversies getting in the way of what could potentially be a great test series. But we’ve got a job to do and we’ve got to make sure we conduct ourselves properly in the communities, both in the way that we get out there and also we’ve got to play some good rugby too.”

In response to the latest barbs from Hansen that the Lions squad had not travelled out sufficiently in advance, Gatland said: “We’ve known about the schedule for 12 months, so for people to start talking about it now seems a little bit ironic. We’re all aware of it, and how tough it is, but you can’t dwell on it and you can’t change it. You can’t let any negativity get to the team. It is what it is.”

Asked if this was the toughest task international rugby could currently throw up, Gatland noted that on 12 previous treks to New Zealand, the Lions had only emerged triumphant in a test series once.

“We know how tough it’s going to be,” admitted Galtand, “but I’m really excited about the quality within the squad, the talent and ability to compete. For everyone I just hope it’s going to be an incredibly exciting tour.”

“I think what I learned in 2013 is that ‘who remembers the midweek games?’ Who remembers the other games?’ It’s all about winning the test series, so if we drop a game or two on the way as we’re looking at combinations or trying things out, it’s not going to be the end of the world. It’s all about winning the tests.

“That’s something I also learned from 2009 in South Africa when we came into the first test undefeated and playing well, but we were caught a little short and well beaten in the first test. In Australia it was a slightly different approach and we lost before the first test against the Brumbies, and protected a certain number of players in order to win that first test.”

Gatland's son Bryn is part of the Provincial Barbarians squad which will provide the Lions' opening opponent

Gatland confirmed that the team and match-day replacements to face the Provincial Barbarians in Whangarei in Saturday’s tour opener will be drawn from the 30-man squad who were in the Carton House last week.

Gatland’s son Bryn is part of the Provincial Barbarians squad which will provide the Lions’ opening opponents, and in between interviews, Gatland embraced his wife Trudi but admitted he hadn’t spoken with their son, Bryn, in a while.

“It’s awesome and it’s great for him as well,” said Gatland. “It’s something that the Farrells have been through with Andy coaching Ireland and Owen playing for England. I’m really looking forward to the next few days and hopefully catching up with Bryn on Saturday.”