Lions captain Sam Warburton says that a packed match itinerary means there will be little time for team bonding in New Zealand.

Head coach Warren Gatland has selected his 41-man squad for the 2017 tour, with various numbers of the players set to assemble during set periods next month before departure to Auckland on 29 May.

We need your consent to load this SoundCloud contentWe use SoundCloud to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content.Manage Preferences

Warburton admits the packed tour schedule will not offer a lot of squad bonding or social time, but he does not see it as a problem.

"Looking at the fixture schedule, I don't think there is going to be time for any team bonding exercises, it's just spending time together," he added.

"There will be an entertainments committee put together, they will put on fun things for the boys to do off the field, to get together and get to know each other away from the field.

"They are pretty trivial things that you do with all the squads you are involved in, but you have got to get the 'off the field' right.

"I always think with teams I've been involved in that a happy camp, more often than not, is going to be a successful camp.

"If you are happy when you turn up for training every Monday, if you keep morale up, you are more likely to get more out of the boys on the field.

"I just think the best things that bond players is going through games together - the pressure of a match day, the preparation and working hard for each other on the field in the warm-up games.

"If there is a back-row player I have never played with before, after I have played 80 minutes with him and I have absolutely finished my body and you're playing next to each other and you are battered and bruised, when you go through that together, you have a lot more respect for each other then once you can see the work you put in for each other.

"That is what bonds a team the most. You go through all those emotions together, and it brings you tighter."