Building bridges
Rotorua and the surrounding areas were hit hard by recent floods, which wiped out homes, especially in the coastal Matata area. This beautiful small village was virtually destroyed by the floods and the New Zealand Rugby Union have donated 80 children's tickets and 120 adult tickets to people from Matata for today's tour opener between Bay of Plenty and the Lions.
As will be custom on their meet-and-greet policy throughout the tour, those not involved in or around the Lions' squads on match days will take part in off-field activities and one of today's ventures will see eight players accompany Bill Beaumont on a goodwill visit to the Matata club (the oldest in the Bay of Plenty area) to "hopefully provide a little joy".
This prompted one local reporter to ask sarcastically if they would be laying foundations, to which Beaumont replied that nobody would be inclined to employ his building skills.
Don't forget your undies
As evidenced by their penchant for bungee jumping, New Zealanders are hardy souls whatever the weather - a tad mad even.
Further proof is provided by the events planned for the weekend of the tour opener in Rotorua, which include a Lions breakfast, a pool party, rugby matches between Lions fans and locals, markets with arts and crafts and, wait for it, an Undie 500 street race - which is exactly what the label says it is.
Learning from the best
Kent Lambert was an All Blacks prop who faced the Lions in the first and fourth tests of the 1977 series before creating quite a stir later that year by switching to Australian rugby league when fed up with an amateur commitment to the All Blacks that was effectively costing him money.
One of the 53-year-old's favourite stories from his 11-Test career was about propping against Ray McLoughlin when Connacht gave the All Blacks scrum a torrid time on their 1974 tour (when their daily allowance was 1.5 New Zealand dollars, about 75 cents).
Over a few beers in Galway that night, McLoughlin gave Lambert an impromptu lesson. He suggested Lambert turn his cheek to the right in order to split the opposing loose-head from his hooker, to not lead into the engagement and to place his feet farther forward so as to generate more power. All this advice was freely given even though they would be playing against each other three days later in the Test at Lansdowne Road.
"He was the best I scrummed against," recalls Lambert. "A small man, but his back would be bent and then - snap - he'd straighten and drive you back two metres. No one in Ireland was listening to his ideas and I think he was just happy that someone did. I used it against him in the Test and we wrecked their scrum. Walking through the little gate off Lansdowne Road he said, 'Oh, you listened to me'. I said, 'I had to, you're the best'. I've never met him since."
Defence more advanced
Phil Larder, the English defensive coach on his second Lions tour in that role, has admitted that developing the Lions' defensive system is a good deal more advanced than it was in Australia.
"Four years ago, England were the only team to have anybody that was concentrating on defence. So we had to start at the base.
"This year it's been much easier. All four of the nations have defensive coaches and some of them have done an excellent job and it's made Mike Ford and my jobs much easier. So really what we're doing at the moment is just tinkering and blending, where four years ago we were building from, to be honest, very little knowledge in some of the players. So it's been much easier and it means we can work at a far more intense and sophisticated level."
What has complicated things is that Wales and Wasps use an out-and-in defence, rather than the in-and-out defence - which is less offensive in forcing turnovers but reduces the risk of being outflanked - preferred by Larder, Ford and most other teams.
