Warren Gatland recently got a taste of what the British & Irish Lions are in for on next year’s tour to New Zealand and admits the behaviour of his countrymen left him squirming in his padded seat.

Head coach Gatland was at Eden Park, venue for two of the Tests next June and July, on 22 October watching the All Blacks play Australia and was stunned and left red-faced by the crowd’s antics.

The Auckland boo-boys got well and truly stuck in to the Wallaby fly-half Quade Cooper, who was born in New Zealand, just hours after one of the local papers had depicted Australia coach Michael Cheika as a circus performer. Gatland will get more of the same next year, and if Rotorua-bred Dylan Hartley is captain the big top brigade will go into overdrive.

As a former hooker who spent years in the All Black shadow of Sean Fitzpatrick, without winning a cap, Gatland knows the Kiwis have plenty to crow about, not least an 18-match winning run, but has asked the crowds to put a sock in it when the Lions come calling.

“I was at Eden Park watching the game a couple of weeks ago and, as a Kiwi, I was embarrassed,” he said. “There was still a large portion of the crowd booing Quade Cooper. Get over it.

“Then there was the clown stuff in the Herald. One of the things I was proud of as a Kiwi was showing humility. The All Blacks try to do that but there’s a proportion of New Zealenders that have a little bit of arrogance and not humility. As a Kiwi I was sitting in the stands watching the game and I was a little bit embarrassed.

Warren Gatland stands alongside the new British and Irish Lions jersey

“You can be proud but you’ve still got to show humility and respect. In the past New Zealanders have prided ourselves on that and been humble about the success of the rugby team. It was the first time that I’ve sat there and thought ‘we’re better than this’.”

As usual, the Lions will travel down under on a wing and a prayer and patched up with sticking plaster after a brutal domestic season that finishes the weekend before the first game of the trip. Then they will play five Super Rugby franchises, plus the combative New Zealand Maoris, and try to win a series against the best team in the world for the first time since 1971.

Gatland was announced as the Lions head coach last September (Getty)

Plenty of potential All Blacks will be available in the early provincial games and there is nothing like knocking over a Lion to grab the attention of the New Zealand selectors. If Gatland has anything like his first choice XV available for the first Test on 24 June it will be a miracle of modern medical science but the coach reckons the early blow-outs will be worth it.

“I have said all along that one of the challenges for us is the lack of preparation time,” he added. “I think the games are great in New Zealand. The harder the games the better it is. My experience with the Lions is we went to South Africa and Australia and had too many easy games.

“Winning games with 50 or 60 points is not great preparation. We’re going to New Zealand and playing five Super rugby sides, the Maori All Blacks and three Tests. The harder the better as far as I am concerned."