Party piece is over. From now on everybody wants Lions’ scalp

Tana Umaga, the centrepiece of one of the most contentious incidents in Lions history, wants to be the first New Zealand coach on this tour to claim a Lions scalp, and that will to win will continue everywhere the tourists travel, writes Donal Lenihan.

The less experienced members of the Lions tour party must already be wondering whether they are on a rugby tour or one gigantic public relations exercise given the number of non-rugby events they have been asked to partake in since their arrival in New Zealand.

The one non-negotiable event, which has been part and parcel of Lions tours since the first outing to the country back in 1888, is the traditional Maori welcome, complete with waggling tongues, Tao’s (Maori spears) flaying, the taonga offered by a Maori elder which was duly accepted by the tour captain Sam Warburton. And, of course, the Haka.