British and Irish Lions captain Sam Warburton told the media on Monday that he is fully fit for the upcoming tour.
Warburton missed the end of the PRO12 season with Cardiff Blues due to a knee injury picked up before he was announced as Lions captain for the second time.
The Wales back-row came through contact training on Monday in Ireland where the squad have met up for this week.
“I am fully fit, which is good,” Warburton told reporters.
“Last week in the camp in Wales I was pretty much doing everything apart from just the last little bit of contact stuff.
“But today I trained fully. I did full contact, and I was absolutely fine. That’s all the boxes ticked, and now I can crack on.”
Focussing on the tour itself, Warburton admitted that he is expecting more scrutiny in New Zealand as opposed to four years ago in Australia.
“I can’t wait to get out there. I am not going to be naive. I know it is going to be more under the microscope than four years ago,” Warburton added.
“Then, I was walking around Melbourne and Australians were asking me who the British and Irish Lions were?
“I know there is not going to be anywhere in New Zealand we go and that question is going to be asked. Everybody is going to know who we are and what we are doing, and it’ll feel like there won’t be too much space out there.
“That’s great. If you asked me in my career which Lions tour could I pick to go on out of any of them, if I could pick one, I would pick New Zealand.”
Warburton also acknowleged the early impact of defence coach Andy Farrell, formerly with England and now work for Ireland, with Warburton highlighting how motivated the players are to deliver defensively.
“Already he’s set the tone defensively. He spoke very well at our defensive meeting and I think everybody has got a huge appetite to defend for Andy, and that’s going to be a massive part of the game against New Zealand.
“As we get closer to those test matches, we’ll tap into the Irish boys a little bit more, and I’m sure they’ll share a little bit of insight on their success over New Zealand as well.”
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