Gregor Paul: The painful unravelling of Warren Gatland

Lions Coach Warren Gatland talks with media after naming his team to play the All Blacks in the first test at Eden Park in the 2017 British and Irish Lions tour. Photo / Greg Bowker.

Warren Gatland seems to be on a one-man crusade to sabotage the carefully planned British & Irish Lions charm offensive campaign.

He was supposed to be in New Zealand to kiss babies, be an unpaid promoter for Hunt for the Wilder People and tell the confectionery-mad Brits that despite what they may fear, pineapple lumps are actually great.

If the Lions could win the series and be considered ace blokes with it, it would be a double win. But worst case scenario for Gatland, he'd fly out of New Zealand the most loveable loser with the Lions having patched up their reputation that took a massive dent in 2005.

The double win is almost beyond the Lions now. Even if they can salvage the series, Gatland has started to dissociate himself so much from the plot that an increasing number of New Zealanders must be cooling on him and by association the Lions.

For the fourth time on this tour, he's used the public domain to air concerns and grievances about the conduct of New Zealand teams.

It began in Christchurch with questions around the scrummaging of the Crusaders. That was fair enough to some extent, but when he piped up again after the loss to the Highlanders about a possible obstruction in the build up to Waisake Naholo's try, a few alarm bells started ringing.

It was no biggie he said, before talking for almost two minutes about how Lions second-five Robbie Henshaw was blocked in his efforts to get to Naholo.

Not a major incident, though, he repeated before bringing it up again the following week, this time to say he'd had confirmation from the review of the officials that night in Dunedin, that it shouldn't have been a try.

Then ahead of the game against the Maori, Gatland brought up, via the UK media, his concerns about blocking in general. He had seen too much of it on the tour and he needed to have a word with the referees about it.

It's one thing to exert pressure on referees but another again to do it and then not believe the New Zealand public are smart enough to work out that you are doing it.

It was the second part that irked because in fairness to Gatland, he was right about the number of times New Zealand players were deviating off their line to 'get in the way'.

And now he's gone to the next level and accused the All Blacks of having some kind of plan to damage Lions halfback Conor Murray in the first test. According to Gatland the All Blacks were throwing themselves at Murray's feet after he kicked the ball on Saturday night, with what intention he wasn't clear...but the implication being that they hoped to inflict some kind of physical damage on the halfback.

It's reached the point when it is maybe best to just shake the head and smile and realise that this is the painful unravelling of someone under too much pressure.

Rugby needs a bit of pre-game theatre and some verbal jousting between the respective coaching teams. It deepens the package - brings a bit of life to things as long as no one takes it too seriously or says anything well off key.

What rugby doesn't need is the most experienced international coach in the game continuing to bully referees. It doesn't reflect well on Gatland or the Lions and having lost the first test - ultimately by a reasonable margin - it smacks of this being a cheap shot thrown in desperation.

A Lions tour is a wondrous part of the rugby landscape. They have been embraced wherever they have gone in New Zealand and while they lost at Eden Park, they scored one of the best counter attack tries in history and with that they won respect and admiration.

The series has potential to be one of the greats and the Lions can still leave New Zealand with their heads up, but not if their coach continues to make accusations about the playing ethics of the All Blacks.