All Blacks and Lions express sympathy for bombing victims

Lions tour manager Bill Beaumont

The All Blacks and the Lions today expressed their sympathy for the victims of the London bombings, with a minute's silence to precede tomorrow's third rugby test in Auckland.

Lions manager Bill Beaumont said none of the touring party had been directly affected.

"Our thoughts are with all those in the UK who have been affected," Beaumont said.

"As far as can be established at this stage, we are fortunate that none of our touring party have had family or close friends directly affected, although we will continue to monitor the situation."

All Blacks coach Graham Henry relayed his team's thoughts.

"We'd like to pass on our sympathies from the All Blacks to the people affected by the terrorist attack in London," Henry said.

"The game really doesn't seem that significant when these sorts of things are going on in the world. I'm sure the Lions camp is feeling that way."

All Blacks captain Tana Umaga had been in contact with his London-based brother Mike and said as far as he knew, none of the team had friends or family directly affected by the bombings.

New Zealand Rugby Union deputy chief executive Steve Tew said a minute's silence would be observed just before tomorrow's 7.10pm kickoff at Eden Park.

He said there was initial thought given to cancelling the match, which has drawn an estimated 15,000 British and Irish supporters to Auckland, but that was quickly dismissed.

"The security status in New Zealand has not changed," Tew said

"We noted that England played Australia in cricket last night, and that (British prime minister) Tony Blair has gone back to Scotland to continue with G8 (the Group of Eight leaders' summit).

"It's a terrible tragedy, we absolutely sympathise with those who were affected but we're not going to bow to terrorism."

Tew said security may be stepped up in some venues around Auckland tomorrow, but that would be a matter of course for such a big event.

- NZPA