Lions tour: The calm before the storm hardly seems apposite given the traditional weather which has greeted the Lions on their first week in New Zealand. The jet lag has hardly abated and already it brings to mind Peter Wheeler's ironic comment on the tour here in 1993. The good news being that it's rained only twice this week, once for four days and once for three days.

Such were the ebbing storms which tormented the tourists' Zurich-sponsored golf day with the media at Formosa Golf Club (supposedly the biggest in New Zealand) yesterday that some either abandoned their round or took the alternative option of clay-pigeon shooting.

Amid a strong suspicion of a fix, the winning Texas scramble foursome was headed by Clive Woodward, with a little help from Geordan Murphy and Chris Cusiter, and eh, Stephen Jones; the journalist that is.

Upon presentation of their sombreros, the Lions head coach was roundly hissed and booed, with Lawrence Dallaglio the apparent ringleader.

Sure enough, the long-range forecast is for more of the same for the rest of this week, supposedly easing up on Saturday when the Lions are entertained by Bay of Plenty in Rotorua. Hmm. We shall see.

The Lions appear to be in a relatively good state of health, apart from nagging concerns over Simon Taylor, although heretofore they have been training in such cloak-and-dagger secrecy that a film of red vinyl surrounding the pitch has obscured their training sessions at the Takapuna from prying eyes. Ditto the windows in the clubhouse.

Palpably trying to endear themselves to the locals as well as reviving tours of yore, today's training was billed as "a unique" open session, which might interest Lions' traditionalists with longer memories.

In any event, the Lions' public charm offensive isn't cutting any ice with the Bay of Plenty coach Vern Cotter (also assistant coach to the Super 12-winning Canterbury Crusaders), who has taken umbrage over the Lions' decision to base themselves in Auckland, with the 22-man squad arriving in Rotorua on Friday and the remainder of the party on Saturday.

On top of their appearance at the Maori welcome in Rotorua on Sunday, which combined tradition with pageantry on a unique occasion, several Lions will also be involved in training and autograph sessions at Tauranga and Counties Manikau over the week but still Abbot wasn't sufficiently impressed.

"My attitude still hasn't changed. It's still very disappointing," he said.

"You think back to past tours and the way Lions players got out into the community, built some bridges and fostered rugby. It's disappointing from a community point of view, no doubt about that.

"But let's face it, it's very much a corporate professional approach to the game. They're here for 80 minutes of rugby and that's basically it."

As a means of paying further respect to their hosts, as well as magnifying the task facing himself and his squad, on arrival Woodward has made mention of the Lions' Test series winning ratio of 10 per cent in New Zealand, compared to 30 per cent in South Africa and 60 per cent in Australia.

The main battalions of the Barmy Army have still to arrive but you can't sit down as a grouping with Northern Hemisphere accents and not be approached by locals with an opinion or two on the impending series. As expected, New Zealand is agog after years of starvation, and nothing would disabuse them of their over-confidence than a resounding Lions' tour opener in the International Stadium, which looks like being a 30,000 sell-out.

Whatever the weather, that game can't come soon enough.