Former Lions lock Ben Kay has labelled New Zealand sports fans as 'among the most arrogant in the world'.

Kay toured New Zealand with the Lions during the disastrous 2005 tour and played in two tests against the All Blacks.

The Englishman said New Zealand's reaction to the Lions' scratchy 13-7 win over the Provincial Barbarians in Whangarei on Saturday was predictable after the tourists were branded 'mediocre', 'incompetent' and a 'disgrace to the jersey'.

GETTY IMAGES Ben Kay copped this black eye during the 2005 Lions tour.

Kay revealed the touring squad copped abuse from everywhere 12 years ago - from hotels to cafes - and that it's 'virtually impossible' to win any respect in New Zealand.

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"New Zealand sports fans are among the most arrogant in the world," Kay wrote in The Times.

"Where Saturday's performance has made life tougher for the Lions is in convincing those Kiwis - and their future opponents, all of whom will be tougher and slicker and more skilful than the Barbarians - that they are still a team to be feared."

Lions coach Warren Gatland said he was 'embarrassed' to be a New Zealander after the 'arrogant' behaviour of All Blacks supporters and Kiwi media when they set a record of test victories (of 18 for a tier-one nation) by beating Australia 37-10 at Eden Park in November.

Kay admitted New Zealand's rugby fans had earned the right to be arrogant because 'they have been raised on a diet of virtually unbroken success'.

GETTY IMAGES Sam Warburton is captaining the Lions around New Zealand in 2017.

"The All Blacks are more than just a nation's rugby team, they are a national symbol and so even non-rugby supporters feed off that superiority," he added.

"As a Lion in New Zealand, it is therefore impossible to escape the pressure and scrutiny. At every turn they will have the locals doubting them; the man at reception smirking as he checks them in to a hotel, the barista with a little dig as she makes a coffee. Winning their respect as a visiting team is virtually impossible."

Kay, a 2003 World Cup winner, played in the 2003 test when England beat the All Blacks 15-13 in Wellington and said that result epitomised New Zealand's arrogant attitude.

"The response was to criticise the way that we played, to claim that England were ruining rugby and that we had the ugliest pack of all time," he said.

"Only the last of those might have been true - but the point was that even in victory you received little credit from New Zealand rugby people. The Lions need to own the agenda.

"If they turn up against the Blues and put in a strong performance, everyone will forget what happened. If they don't, then it ratchets up another level.



"A struggle against the Crusaders and you may well find even more Kiwis dismissing a Lions squad that we felt was the strongest ever as worse than 2005."

TOUR STARTS NOW

Former All Blacks and Lions coach Graham Henry described the scheduling for the 2017 tour as 'suicidal' but the real tour starts now, writes Owen Slot in The Times.

The unconvincing nature of that six-point success over the Baabaas at Toll Stadium came just four days after the Lions landed in New Zealand.

Slot said New Zealand's 'kneejerk' reaction was predictable but nobody can judge the Lions given the short turnaround.

"The inclination on Saturday was to observe, stroke your chin and run a red line through one player after another: no, Hogg's not going to make the Test team, nor Henderson, nor Tommy Seymour, nor Greig Laidlaw, nor Jonathan Sexton - and on it goes," he said.



"Those players, however, have a right to feel shortchanged that this disgrace of a fixture list was landed on the Lions of 2017 and that they were the ones to bear the load and suffer for it.

"Saturday was nothing to do with the rest of the Lions tour, a one-off played with one hand tied behind their backs. Wednesday against the Blues and this Saturday against the Crusaders will give a proper indication of the scale of the struggle ahead."

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