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11th June 2017
12:34pm BST
Credit: INPHO[/caption]
And there's four weeks to go.
Stephen Ferris and Kevin McLaughlin already joked, on The Hard Yards rugby podcast, how the players will be sick of the singing and dancing rituals by the end of the tour.
That could certainly be said for Mako Vunipola as he faced a fierce Crusaders Haka in Christchurch this weekend:
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Credit: Sky Sports[/caption]
There will be no Mako against Highlanders, in Dunedin, this Tuesday and no haka.
The Highlanders have confirmed they will be forgoing the ritual in favour of a more locally themed welcome for the Lions. Highlanders captain Luke Whitelock told Stuff:
"We've got something a little bit different I suppose, we're all excited about it. "We're trying to reflect what we're about down here. I guess you'll see that come Tuesday, really.""We're around our values," he added, "just trying to be good buggers and help each other out, just a sort of tight family group, and work together as a team." Highlanders chief executive Roger Clark stated that the team felt their own version of a haka was not appropriate. He added that the Tuesday welcome will be Scottish themed. Highlanders often get bagpipes or pipe bands in for their Super Rugby games so expect something along those lines.
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