By his own admission, Jez Warburton has been in tears a few times over the past couple of weeks.

Not that I helped much when I met up with him for a coffee in Auckland ahead of the third Test.

So, I asked, just how proud are you to be out here in New Zealand watching your son captain the Lions?

“I could cry now, I could,” he replied, welling up a little.

“It’s overwhelming. I did shed a tear straight after the game last Saturday.

“I rang my wife from the ground. She was going ‘brilliant, incredible’ and I just couldn’t get my words out.

(Image: Mike Halfpenny)

“She was saying ‘are you there?’. I could hardly speak.

“I must have had tears in my eyes about five or six times out here.”

One of those times was when he and Sam’s twin brother, Ben, were watching the midweek match against the Hurricanes in a bar in Auckland.

“Sam had been on the TV accepting something before the game and this English Lions fan saw Ben and said ‘you have got to be his brother’,” explains Jez.

“We just started chatting and he was saying what a great ambassador Sam is for the sport.

(Image: Jez Warburton)

“He went on and on and he literally reduced me to tears.

“In a funny way, that’s more important than the rugby side, as that’s him as a human being.

“It got round the pub that we were there and we ended up having a fantastic night!”

With Cardiff Blues physio Ben looking so much like his brother, it’s led to some memorable moments out here.

“We were in a Subway before the second Test in Wellington and a Kiwi bloke and his wife saw him and said ‘You’ve got to be Sam Warburton’s brother’,” recounted Jez.

“The guy then spoke to the girl behind the counter and insisted on paying for what Ben had bought. He said ‘as far as we are concerned, you are royalty if you are Sam’s brother’.

“Ben said to me for a total stranger to buy him something because of what his brother has achieved was one of the nicest moments of the whole tour for him.

“We’ve found it’s been unreal over here. Because of the Lions fans in town, Ben is getting as much attention as Sam does back home. People keep stopping him. Some people think he is Sam, some people say you’ve got to be his brother.”

The twin brother factor has led to some confusion out here, as Jez explains.

“If we are in Nandos, people will come up to Ben and say ‘what are you doing here?’.

“It’s been incredible. I find it quite funny.

“He’s used to it. But we notice it a lot more here, because a lot of the New Zealanders stop him.

“We were at the zoo earlier this week and a Kiwi guy came up and said ‘Excuse me, I know you are having a day off, but would it be ok to have my photo taken with you?’

“Ben had to say ‘I’m sorry to disappoint you, but I’m his twin brother’.

“Then they say ‘Oh yes, I thought you were a little bit smaller than I imagined’.

“Ben is about 5ft 11ins compared to Sam’s 6ft 2ins.”

It’s clear listening to Jez just how important family is to the Warburtons.

“The great thing with Ben and their sister Holly is there’s no jealousy at what Sam is doing and the fame,” he said.

“They are all very close, which is lovely.

“I remember being absolutely ecstatic when Ben and Sam got picked to play rugby for the school team, Llanishen Fach Juniors, in Rhiwbina, at the age of 10. It kind of made my year.

“Then it carried on through Whitchurch High School, then Cardiff Schools.

“Ben was right up with Sam. He was a good centre and played for Wales U16s, but he did a deltoid muscle in his shoulder, which was never going to repair itself, so he decided to go into something different and become a physio.

“As a result, he still gets to work with Sam, like he went to school with him. It’s quite weird.

“He’s actually Sam’s biggest critic. If he doesn’t think he has carried enough or has done something wrong, he will tell him straight, whereas I will just say just ‘well played’ Sam. “They are best friends and Sam takes it on board and Ben is loving what he is seeing out here now.

“He’s not been to New Zealand before and he didn’t go out to watch the last Lions tour in Australia, so it’s been brilliant for him.”

As for Jez, hearing him talk about watching Sam play out here, you get a real insight just what it’s like for the parents of top sportsmen or women.

“I know they are superstar rugby players, but at the end of the day they are your children and for one of your children to be part of something like this is just fantastic,” he said.

“I always remember walking into the ground in Brisbane before the first Lions Test in 2013 with Dan Lydiate’s parents, Lyn and John.

“Lyn was in tears because Dan was involved in the game and that’s how much it meant to them.

“It’s the magnitude of your children being part of the Lions.

“I’ve been so fortunate to be there to see Sam on both of his tours.

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“As soon as the game kicked off last weekend, I said to Ben, he’s done it, he’s captained the Lions in Tests on two separate tours, it’s in the bag. It was a special moment.”

And what a special occasion it proved to be, with Warburton leading the Lions to a famous 24-21 victory at Wellington’s Westpac Stadium.

“Ben and I were running through it afterwards,” said Jez.

“Sam has played in so many big games, but we went through them all listing his top ten biggest moments and that had to be number one.

“The All Blacks are the best team in the world, so to beat them out here has to be the highlight.

“The support from the Lions fans in that last 20 minutes was just incredible. The atmosphere was something else.

“The scale of the support out here has been phenomenal and Sam has said it definitely does make a difference to the team.

“It’s just been brilliant. All the bars have been packed out and it’s been so good humoured.

(Image: INPHO/James Crombie)

“I haven’t seen what a New Zealand policeman looks like. There just doesn’t seem to be any need for one.

“People have spent their life savings to come out here.

“It’s got to be the greatest travelling support in any sport in the world when you consider the number and the distance travelled.

“It’s just been fantastic and an amazing experience to be out here.”

But, for all the highs, there are also the lows and the parents feel those even more, especially when their children come in for criticism.

Jez has experienced that, having opted to come off Twitter because of some of the comments on there about Sam.

“You want your son to do well, because of the battering they get if they don’t. You want to protect them from that,” he said.

“That is why I got off Twitter.

(Image: Â©INPHO/Billy Stickland)

“I have got no objection to people saying he shouldn’t play. I read the other day Austin Healey and Sir Clive Woodward saying he shouldn’t be in the Test team, but then Sir Ian McGeechan said he should start. You can go on forever.

“With Twitter, I wouldn’t follow these people, but obviously I would follow you.

“You would write something and then I’d read the comments with people saying ‘Sam’s rubbish’ or whatever and I just thought I don’t want to read it anymore.

“It’s basically the same people, who have got it in for him or they want their player to play.

“So I got off there. Now I am on the relative safety of Instagram, where for some reason it doesn’t happen.

“I have spoken to other parents and it’s the same for all of them. One of the main reasons they want their boys to play well is so people will appreciate what they have done and not get on their backs.

“I am a big Spurs fan and the number of times I have said a player is rubbish over the years is ridiculous.

“Now I am on the other side of it where you see your own children and their friends getting criticised.

“So if I hear any player being criticised, I defend every one of them. They are doing the best they possibly can, it’s just sometimes they have off days.

“I think Sam had wanted me to get off Twitter for a long time. He used to get upset at the fact that I would get annoyed.

“It’s certainly a lot easier not reading the negative stuff.

“It’s strange, you can read 100 good things about your son, but you read one bad thing and that’s the bit that sticks in your mind. I deal with it better now, but it took a long time.

“All the players have been through it at one stage and their parents go through it too.

“It is hard watching at times. I track Sam during games, watching every move he makes. If he goes down, you wait until he gets up. I think all the parents do that, it’s just human nature.

(Image: Inpho)

“If he comes out of it unscathed and he’s played well and they have won, it is fantastic.”

Just as there is great camaraderie among the players on this trip, the same goes for the family members.

“There is a real community among the parents,” revealed Jez.

“We all meet at the team hotel before the game and there is a family room there, with a bit of food and drink put on. Warren Gatland’s wife Trudi organised it all.

“We have a bus to and from the ground and then the players come in afterwards and meet family.

“You get to know the other parents quite well and there’s a good camaraderie among us, as there is with the players.

“Before the first Test, I went up to Peter O’Mahony’s dad in the family room and shook his hand and congratulated him. He was absolutely buzzing.

(Image: PA)

“After the win last weekend, all the parents were in there with big smiles on their faces, hugging each other, despite the fact that, for some of them, their kids weren’t involved in the game.”

Sam’s wife Rachel also came out to New Zealand for 10 days either side of the first Test.

Her mother Sue and Jez’s wife Carolyn stayed behind to look after Sam and Rachel’s one-year-old daughter Anna.

“I know Sam really appreciates them doing that so Rachel could get across here,” said Jez.

“Anna is just about starting to walk, so he’s hoping to get home in time to see that event.

“He likes seeing the family out here and we have got to see him quite a lot, which has been good.

“He is very bubbly four or five days before the game, but then you see him on the morning of the match and he’s very quiet. They go into their own little zone.

(Image: Inpho)

“After we met up last Saturday, he apologised that he was quiet, but you’ve got to understand he’s playing a huge game and all these things are running through his mind, especially as captain.

“It’s the biggest game in his career this weekend and it will his biggest achievement ever if the Lions win the series.

“It’s just fantastic to be here to experience it. So, yes, you could say I am pretty proud.”

Let’s hope there will be some tears of joy to come on Saturday night.