Letter from Rotorua: No escaping the past in Christchurch

From the English City, via the Edinburgh of the South, to the spiritual home of the Maori people, the last seven days of this 2017 British and Irish Lions tour have been a study in the shifting timeframes, cultures, and traditions of New Zealand.

For the Lions, it has been more of the same: eat, train, play repeat from Christchurch to Dunedin and on to Rotorua, where, this morning, they were facing the Maori All Blacks, this tour’s unofficial fourth Test.

Each of these cities has offered something very different.