The audience was not all friendly when the All Blacks showed off their extensive repertoire of stretches and panache with a soccer ball in the team's first training session of the Lions tour yesterday.
People of all sizes crammed North Harbour Stadium for the public training session for the test against Fiji at Albany on Friday night, but among them was a small group of Lions supporters, all experts in the tricky art of defence.
Dave Morgan and Al Robins were in a group of nine lads on a four-month exchange between the Royal Air Force and the Royal New Zealand Air Force.
The exchange just happens to coincide with the Lions tour.
They were not sure whether their New Zealand counterparts, now stuck in a sweltering UK, were as happy about the timing.
They arrived at North Harbour Stadium decked out in a variety of UK rugby jerseys, took photos of each other with the All Blacks training in the background and talked about the Lions winning three-nil.
Then Dave Morgan admitted the Lions' first game beyond the first 10 minutes was "not a convincing performance".
He also admitted that Lawrence Dallaglio was a big loss and that Richie McCaw could possibly be "the best flanker in the world".
Colleague Chris Pearn was a little less realistic.
"We invented the game and we are going to show them how to play it.
"Three-nil."
The All Blacks started warming up by kicking a soccer ball around, and gave Al Robins a bit of hope.
"If they play rugby like they're playing football, we'll be all right."
See the All Blacks
The squad will have three more public training sessions during the Lions tour, each starting at 3pm.
* June 20, QEII Park, Christchurch
* June 27, Basin Reserve, Wellington
* July 4, Western Springs Stadium, Auckland
All Black training draws the fans
Justin Marshall high fives fans as he walks back into the tunnel after training at North Harbour Stadium yesterday. Picture / Dean Purcell
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