Trash-talk over, rugby coaches savour the challenge

All Blacks head coach Steve Hansen knows all about the benefits of taking a series lead from a first Test victory, but he is relishing a genuine three-game tussle with the British & Irish Lions over the coming weeks.

The series an entire nation has been waiting a dozen years for is finally on the brink of getting under way, with the opening rubber at Auckland’s Eden Park tomorrow (8.35am Irish time).

It was the same back in 2005, when Clive Woodward brought his squad to these shores but the mismatch between the sides was close to absolute, as the Lions, minus key players Lawrence Dallaglio (injured in the opening tour game) and captain Brian O’Driscoll (who did not last two minutes of the first Test) were rendered second-rate by an All Blacks at its physical and creative peak under Graham Henry.