Yes, British and Irish Lions prop Mako Vunipola did grab All Blacks' opposite Owen Franks by the scrotum.

Reports of the incident, during a scrum in the first test between the Lions and All Blacks at Eden Park, came to light on Thursday. All Blacks coach Steve Hansen dismissed the whole thing, said Franks hadn't mentioned it and urged everyone to move on.

People often make light of front-rowers and the things they get up to in scrums. The mention of "bollocks" certainly made Vunipola chuckle, when he fronted the media on Friday. He initially said he couldn't remember where he gripped Franks, before admitting his family had "tagged" him to social-media footage of it so many times that he couldn't help but see it.

GETTY IMAGES. All Blacks prop Owen Franks wasn't too hampered by his experience marking Mako Vunipola.

"They're very supportive, to be fair," the New Zealand-born, Wales-raised, England prop of Tongan descent said in a Welsh accent of his family.

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"I was just trying to keep my bind up, obviously. We talk about always, as a front row, giving good pictures to the referee and either I bind there or I drop my arm [and] it's a penalty to them. So I'd rather grab them than grab nothing, really."

DAVID ROGERS/GETTY IMAGES. Mako Vunipola's allround game has been hugely impressive on this tour.

The whole thing has been filed under the heading of 'Strange Things Front-rowers Find Amusing And Acceptable' and we move on to commending Vunipola for the quality of his play on this tour and mention his years as an All Blacks fan.

His father Fe'ao played rugby for Tonga and he and wife Singa were living in Wellington when Mako was born. The family moved to Wales when Mako was about 8, where his father played club rugby.

"When I was growing up I admit I used to watch the All Blacks and be in love with them. Mostly because of Jonah Lomu. Obviously with him being of Tongan heritage, I always wanted to be like him," Vunipola said at Porirua's Jerry Collins Stadium on Friday.

"Being born in Wellington as well, I've got a lot of family here and this is actually the first time I've been back since I left as a child."

In those days, though, it wasn't Lomu that Vunipola's father used to compare him to, but another outstanding All Black of that era.

"Yeah, he used to joke around that I was the next Olo Brown, when I was younger. Didn't have a clue who he was [but] obviously the older I got [the more] I knew who he was."

Vunipola's father played hooker for Tonga, including at the 1995 Rugby World Cup where Brown was New Zealand's starting tighthead prop.

It's the front row where a lot of test matches are won and lost. That's definitely Vunipola's view and he felt he and his fellow front-rowers didn't impose themselves sufficiently in the first test of this series.

Lions coach Warren Gatland wasn't hugely complimentary about the pack, following that 30-15 defeat at Eden Park, and Vunipola said those harsh words were all the motivation they needed ahead of Saturday's second test at Westpac Stadium.