British and Irish Lions: Warren Gatland's Lions out to influence public opinion on the field

British & Irish Lions Sam Warburton and Warren Gatland during the press conference at the QBE Stadium, North Shore City. (Picture: David Davies/PA Wire)

Head coach Gatland admitted no surprise on learning that 78 per cent of Kiwis quizzed in a recent poll could not name a single Lions tourist.

All Blacks’ disinterest in opponents is nothing new and hardly harms their approach – Brodie Retallick called Courtney Lawes Michael when challenged to name an England player in 2014, but New Zealand still won that Test series.

Gatland now hopes the Lions can catch the New Zealand public cold across a series the home faithful fully expect to claim with ease.

Asked if the Lions can shock the whole country of New Zealand, Gatland said: “That’s hopefully the whole plan.

“I see the tour in two parts: everything up to the Maori game and then everything post that.

“If we can go and play some good rugby and make people stand up and take a little bit of notice it’s going to create even more interest.

“Maybe when the 30,000 Lions supporters arrive and they do the poll again the number might go up.

“I’m hugely excited about it. I know everyone has written us off and that’s a nice position to be in.”

Asked to comment on such polls underscoring the Kiwi public’s lack of knowledge on the Lions, New Zealander Gatland said: “You’ve got to be very careful about what you say.

“As a Kiwi, if you’re critical of New Zealand, how isolated we are, you get absolutely smashed, so you keep your mouth shut. It probably sums things up, you know.

“If we leave the tour and we’ve made an impression, that would be pretty positive. I’m not sure a lot of people in New Zealand watch the Pro12, the Aviva Premiership or even the Six Nations and as a result you don’t know too many of the players.

“There’ll be a lot of players in the northern hemisphere who think Dan Carter is still playing for the All Blacks.

“In the past the All Blacks have tended to concentrate on themselves, they haven’t worried too much about who they’re playing against. They’ve never really worried about us in terms of the way they’ve prepared. That’s completely up to them. I know we’ll do our homework.”