Rugby: How the Maori All Blacks are getting up for the Lions

A recurring theme for the British and Irish Lions on this tour has been the way every one of their New Zealand opponents, none of whom have faced the men in red before, have lifted for the unique challenge of facing the tourists.

Tomorrow in Rotorua, a place with deep spiritual significance to Maori, they face a team who will provide that and more.

The New Zealand Maori have a proud history against the Lions, and Matt Te Pou's team beat the tourists in 19-13 in Hamilton 12 years ago.

The Lions had won the previous seven official matches between the sides stretching back to 1930, but in each of those the margin of victory has never been higher than 11 points. Warren Gatland has named a test-strength side for the match at Rotorua International Stadium and he is likely to need one.

History means a lot to Colin Cooper's current group of men and for them, as with most of their predecessors, this clash is more than just a game. They have spent the past few days studying the history of Maori rugby, including the first tour by the team known as the "New Zealand Natives" to the United Kingdom in 1888 which stretched to 107 matches and went on for 14 months.

Every night this week they have learned about Maori culture and practised their haka and waiata, with which they have responded at the several powhiri they have attended here, and it culminated in an extraordinary emotion-filled challenge last night when the team and the Black Ferns, who will play in the curtain-raiser against England at the city's International Stadium, faced off against each other in practice.

Before all of that, when they filtered into the city a few individuals at a time, they shed the metaphorical cloaks of their Super Rugby affiliations, and become one. One tribe, if you like, representing the many.

Highlanders lock Joe Wheeler, fresh from seeing his side upset the Lions in Dunedin in a thrilling finish, spoke about the need to "buy into what the Maori team is all about".

For him, these last few days in Rotorua have been helpful in allowing him to re-connect with his heritage, and there is little doubt the Highlanders' performance, and that of the Blues at Eden Park earlier in the tour, will boost him and his teammates to attempt to achieve the same feats.

Wheeler will be up against one of the biggest packs he has faced, but can take some comfort in what the Highlanders achieved in Dunedin late in the game.

"I think what the Highlanders showed was that there was a collective effort in that last scrum to give them an opportunity to win that game. They managed to find a little weakness in their armory and got the goods."

Of the size of the Lions' pack, he said: "We play South African [Super Rugby] teams every second or third week. These [Lions] guys are renowned for their set piece work. They're very good at it and they've got a different style to us. They've probably got five kilos on us across the board but I think that's a really exciting challenge for us as we like to play with speed and tempo.

"They like to play like that as well but hopefully we can do it a little bit better than them."
For Cooper, this team is a relatively easy one to bring together. They have connected straight away despite their lack of preparation time, and they will know exactly what they are facing.

The questions are, can the Lions cope with the intensity and emotion and finishing talents of Rieko Iaone, James Lowe and Nehe Milner-Skudder?

"We've seen the way the Lions play, we learned that in the UK [last year]," Cooper said.

"They are playing the way I expected; strong up front, a lot of high balls, line speed, so we've just been planning ever since we lost to Munster... to put something together that we hope will work for us.

"It's about getting structure to set it up so you can use your flair. I guess where New Zealand rugby sits at the moment, we're in a pretty good space to achieve that."