British & Irish Lions tour 2017

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Surprisingly, choir practice and film nights will be part of the British and Irish Lions training preparations for the Lions upcoming test series against the New Zealand All Blacks as coach Warren Gatland plans to make sure his men are in touch with the pregame Haka challenge and culture of New Zealand. Gatland who is a New Zealander himself who played for Waikato against the British and Irish Lions in the past, told his side that too many touring teams arrive in the New Zealand ill-equipped for the off-field challenges that come with being in the rugby-crazy nation.

"A lot of teams arrive in New Zealand and, I saw this in 2011 at the World Cup, they weren't prepared for the stuff off the field. They weren't prepared culturally," said Gatland after naming his 41-man squad last Wednesday for the 10-match tour, which features three tests against the world champion New Zealand All Blacks. "That's important. I've got to make sure we do that. I'd see that we teach them that when they speak, it is followed by song,” said Gatland. "So the first week together we're going to be doing a bit of singing and a bit of choir practice to get that right."

Gatland was also the Lions' coach when they beat Australia 2-1 four years ago. "I said to the staff and I'll say to the players to go and watch a couple of New Zealand films. Like 'Hunt for the Wilder people'. Maybe 'Whale Rider', 'Boy',” added Gatland. "I'm not sure 'Once Were Warriors' sets the best example of New Zealand. It gives you an understanding of New Zealand, of the people, the humor, which is a bit different. If you can understand New Zealand, the intensity of the place and the opposition it makes us better prepared and it's those small things that will make us better on the field." The British and Irish Lions' only series win in New Zealand was in 1971. The Lions’ most recent visit ended in a 3-0 loss 12 years ago. Ireland beat the All Blacks 40-29 in Chicago in November, following England's 38-21 win over New Zealand in 2012. Some rugby players who featured in those victories are in the 2017 Lions squad.

"You try to talk about how they are human, they are capable of making mistakes, they do have frailties if you put them under pressure," said Gatland. "The pleasing thing is a lot of those players can believe that because they saw Ireland beat the All Blacks in Chicago. Often players, when you try to communicate that, you see the glaze in players' eyes when you say they are fallible and they are like everyone else. But we've seen Andy Farrell involved in two teams beating the All Blacks, the English players in 2012. It's an incredibly tough tour. I heard the other day a Kiwi asked if they can win the series 3-0 and they said they didn't want to win 3-0, they want to win 10-0. That gives an idea of what their expectation is. But that also fires me up and hopefully gives the players and the team the motivation to go out there and perform."

Gatland has again appointed Cardiff Blues back-row Sam Warburton, the Lions captain in Australia, as his skipper for New Zealand. Warburton is only the second man to lead the Lions on two tours after England great Martin Johnson in 1997, 2001. Sam got the honor this year in spite of standing down as Wales captain prior to the Six Nations in a bid to regain his best form. "His greatest quality is it is not all about Sam Warburton, it's about the team and putting the team first," Gatland said. "He knows his form has got to be good enough to be selected. If Justin Tipuric or Sean O'Brien are playing better than him, we make that selection from a coach's point of view." England National Rugby Team captain Dylan Hartley is the highest profile absentee from the British & Irish Lions squad that will tour down-under in New Zealand this summer, announced recently by coach Warren Gatland on Wednesday.

Hartley missed out but Jamie George, his England understudy, was named by Gatland to join Ireland's Rory Best and Welshman Ken Owens in the battle for the hooker's spot on the 10-game tour. The news of his omission was no doubt a huge blow for Hartley, who was selected in the initial squad for the Australia tour four years ago. However, Hartley missed out after being banned for abusing the referee in the Premiership Final. Hartley has led England to successive Six Nations titles. The England lock is the third successive England captain to miss out on Lions selection following Chris Robshaw and Steve Borthwick, who is now the Lions forwards coach. However Hartley will captain England on their two-test tour of Argentina, where he may be accompanied by center Jonathan Joseph, another surprise omission. 

Gatland included Englishman Jack Nowell, who has worked to nail down a starting spot under Eddie Jones, as well as muscular strongman Ben Te'o, the rugby league convert who has started one test in union and won seven as a replacement. Prop Kyle Sinckler who has yet to start a test for England, is also set to travel, along with back Elliot Daly.  The inclusion of Te'o and center Jamie Roberts indicates that Gatland plans to get at the All Blacks with an all-power game. Sam Warburton was named captain for the second time, despite losing the Wales captaincy to lock Alun Wyn Jones. The squad also looks powerful in the back row with the inclusion of Billy Vunipola, Sean O'Brien, CJ Stander and Taulupe Faletau. Despite the Scots beating Wales and Ireland in this year's Six Nations, there are only two Scottish rugby players included – fullback Stuart Hogg and Tommy Seymour. 

The Lions first test against the All Blacks is June 24. Buy British & Irish Lions tickets and New Zealand All Blacks tickets securely now online from the world’s top rugby union ticket marketplace – LiveRugbyTickets.co.uk! All Blacks enforcer Jerome Kaino is in doubt for the British and Irish Lions tour after his Auckland Blues team revealed on Thursday he is undergoing surgery on an injured knee. The Blues’ 77-test flanker reportedly will be sidelined for about six weeks after surgery to fix a torn meniscus, putting Kaino in line for a return in early- to mid-June. The two-time World Cup winner's absence would be a massive blow for New Zealand, although the minor surgery should not affect Kaino's All Black duties.

"I'm pretty sure he'll be fine for the Lions tour," assistant coach Steve Jackson told reporters. "He'll get his feet up and players normally come back pretty quickly from those sorts of operations." However the setback will severely disrupt Kaino's training for the tour, forcing coach All Blacks coach Steve Hansen to look at Liam Messam, Elliott Dixon, and Liam Squire as potential replacements. Meanwhile, popular England coach Eddie Jones has a solution for the problem of who should captain the British and Irish Lions rugby side in the future - make it a four-man job. Jones’ England side suffered their first loss in his 18 matches as boss against Ireland. Other top options to Warburton this year included England skipper Dylan Hartley and Ireland's fellow hooker Rory Best, Wales captain Alun Wyn Jones and Scotland's scrum-half Greig Laidlaw.

"I know what I would do. I would take the captains of the four nations, pool them together and make that the leadership group," Australian Jones said. "The Lions is such a prestigious tour. I would have those four guys lead the team and after the first five warm-up games I would pick the first test and whoever was the leading player of those four I would make the captain for the first test." The Lions face a brutal schedule ahead with matches against Super Rugby titans Blues, Crusaders and Highlanders. "I would have a tour leadership group and a specific captain for each test," Jones said. "You look at the last Lions tour and Sam Warburton captained the first two and Alan Wyn Jones captained the third so I think you can separate it. It would be different but I would reckon you would get a great result with those four captains running the team for you and making sure they set the standards on and off the field."

England fell one short of setting a new world record 19-match winning streak and a second successive Six Nations Grand Slam when going down 13-9 to Ireland in Dublin. Jones reported he was "racing the clock" as he tried to build the necessary "on-pitch" leadership to win the World Cup in Japan in 2019, saying that England still fell short. "We don't have the density right now to win a World Cup. I think you need about nine players who are absolutely self-reliant, who don't need to be told what to do. We have maybe five, but you need nine because then you have a tipping point where if you don't join the strength of the team you get left out. We don't quite have and it will take the time to develop."

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