Lions indulge in childsplay

THE British and Irish Lions today continued their charm offensive in New Zealand amid local criticism of the level of secrecy and security at their training sessions.

After charming the Maoris with word and song at a traditional welcoming ceremony in Rotorua on Sunday, Clive Woodward’s Lions today threw open the gates of Auckland’s North Harbour Stadium to an expected crowd of more than 8,000 New Zealanders for the first of two, long-planned public training sessions.

Woodward has said that as well as carrying out his primary mission to win matches on this 11-game tour, his Lions were also determined to engage with the New Zealand public and captain Brian O’Driscoll reinforced that point in Rotorua: “From the moment our plane touched down in New Zealand we’ve been struck by the warmth of the greeting we’ve received, it’s been very special.

“We want to play rugby, we want to win matches and most of all we want to win the Test series. That’s what we’re working very hard to achieve. But this is just not a tour for rugby, we also want to get out amongst the people and learn about the history, the geography and the culture. The ties between New Zealand and Britain, and New Zealand and Ireland are very strong and rugby’s played a huge part in building those ties. I’m sure those ties will get stronger and stronger with this tour.”

To that end, Lions media manager Louisa Cheetham added that, in conjunction with the New Zealand provincial unions, each tour stop between now and the third and final Test on July 9 will be marked by community activities attended by those Lions not selected for that particular game.

These events, she said, would include visiting schools, rugby clubs and hospitals on match days, although details were still being finalised.

With the first match of the tour set to kick off Saturday against Bay Of Plenty in Rotorua, there was a further act of bridge-building announced yesterday.

The Lions offered 20 children, selected from Auckland schools and clubs by local rugby officials, the chance to take part in the final part of today’s workout.

“Youngsters here are passionate about rugby,” Woodward said, “and this will give them the chance not just to rub shoulders with some of the greatest players in the world, but to learn something too.”

Today’s very public session, though, was in stark contrast to the Lions’ session on Sunday, their first proper work since landing in New Zealand on Friday afternoon.

Training at the Takapuna Rugby Club in the city’s Onewa Domain has been behind closed doors with the Lions fitting red vinyl sheeting onto the perimeter fencing, blocking views of the proceedings within.

Some children stole a brief glance through an open gate under the watchful eye of the police, whose presence outside the grounds was criticised by the Sensible Sentencing Trust as “a waste of public money.”

“If we had an abundance of police resources I wouldn’t worry about it,” said the Trust’s Susan Slater, “but with all the mayhem going on why should the taxpayer support the rugby union, who should be able to pay themselves for the security they need?

“The Lions have more chance of being murdered on the street than on the field at a training run. They’re not royalty, they’re rugby players for goodness sake.”

Takapuna club manager Terry Healy countered that the police presence was “nothing excessive” while the police officer in charge of operations for the tour, Superintendent Ray Van Beynen, said: “It was the first major training session and we had no idea how many people would turn up to see it or how much disruption there would be. The rugby unions and the Lions have their own security people but where there are members of the public involved we have a policing responsibility.”