Ben Ainslie denied feeling the least bit intimidated as defenders New Zealand opened the 37th America’s Cup with a full-on haka.

Britain’s skipper sounded his own war cry ahead of the opening day of racing on Saturday, urging his team “not to be scared” but instead “step up and take on” the challenge.

Maori tribespeople of the Ngati Whatua Orakei, complete with traditional weapons and instruments, accompanied Kiwi skipper Peter Burling and co-helm Nathan Outteridge into the conference room in Barcelona, as Ainslie and co-helm Dylan Fletcher stared them down, Owen Farrell-style.

Afterwards, Ainslie was asked whether he had found the experience intimidating. “Well firstly what an honour and privilege to be here,” he replied. “We all know so much about the great New Zealand culture, and Maori culture, and how that has influenced sport in New Zealand. So it was a real honour and privilege to see that. But not really intimidated to be honest. It was a lot of fun.”

Ainslie’s team made history last week when they defeated Italians Luna Rossa to become the first British team for 60 years to qualify for the final of sport’s oldest international competition.

The America’s Cup was born off the Isle of Wight in 1851, when it was originally known as the £100 Cup. Britain has never won it.

After defeating Luna Rossa 7-4 in a nailbiting challenger series final, Ainslie’s team face defenders Emirates Team New Zealand in another first-to-seven series for the chance to lift the Auld Mug.

‘Britain never winning America’s Cup drives us’

Ainslie noted history was against his crew, describing Ineos Britannia as the “underdogs” in this match given New Zealand knew they could design their boat for October’s prevailing conditions. He also noted the Kiwis had had three weeks to prepare, having ducked out of racing after the challenger series round robins. But he said that only made the challenge more appealing.

“The last time Britain was in the America’s Cup match was 1964,” Ainslie said of the 19th America’s Cup when Peter Scott’s 12-metre Sovereign lost 4-0 to the New York Yacht Club’s Constellation in Newport, Rhode Island. “But the fact that Britain’s never won the America’s Cup is what drives us. It’s really a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. My experience when you get those opportunities … don’t be scared, step up and take it on.

“In terms of who has got the advantage I would say for sure Team New Zealand being able to take three weeks to look at the configuration of their boat, and get the data of the competing boat. Only one team here really knows the line-up of the competition and it’s Team New Zealand not us.”

Light winds are expected for the first day of racing, although the forecasts have not always been accurate. New Zealand won the coin toss and will start on port in race one.

Outteridge said the pre-starts would be “critical” with Ainslie and Fletcher having got much the better of Luna Rossa in the Louis Vuitton final.

“We’ve been watching pretty closely what Ben and Dylan and the team have been up to, trying to study their moves and trying to understand counter-moves,” Outteridge said. “And I’m sure they’ll be trying to guess what we are going to do come tomorrow as well. As we’ve seen so far the boats are incredibly close in performance and the starts will be critical.”

Asked whether winning the America’s Cup for Britain would define his career, Ainslie, the most successful Olympic sailor of all-time, reflected: “Yes and no. I’ve been really fortunate to have won the Cup before [for Oracle Team USA in 2013], although as you say not for Great Britain.

“But it’s not really about me, it is about the team. The America’s Cup is the ultimate team game. That’s what motivates us. The America’s Cup is one of the hardest, if not the hardest thing to win in sport. We’ve been going for 10 years now to get to this point and what a great opportunity. In a way for us there is nothing to lose and everything to gain.”

Women’s team qualify for final

Meanwhile, Britain have qualified for Sunday’s final match race in the inaugural Women’s America’s Cup. Hannah Mills’ Athena Pathway squad will face Italians Luna Rossa in the winner-takes-all race.

Britain had a few hairy moments in Friday’s semi-finals, which were held in Barcelona in very light breezes, late in the evening after lengthy delays.

Heading into the fourth and final race of the series – fleet races between the top six teams from the group stages – Britain knew that only Spain could mathematically pip them to the final. But in a dramatic twist, Mills’ team were one of several to cross the line early, having to turn around and start again, allowing Spain to take the lead.

The Spanish – who as a non-America’s Cup team did not have access to an AC40 in the build-up – went on to win. But Britain fought back well to finish third, tying with Luna Rossa at the top of the standings, with both teams just three points clear of Spain.

“Honestly, I don’t know if that was fun or not,” Mills admitted after the scores had been totted up. “It was so stressful. The wind really dropped and every manoeuvre felt like a rescue and we had to go back at the start. We just thought we’d make it interesting for you guys.”

Asked about Sunday’s race, Mills added: “I think it’s going to be amazing to be honest. Just to be part of the first ever women’s America’s Cup match race is amazing. We know Giulia [Conti, the Italian helm] really well. Saskia and I raced against her a lot in the 470s. It’s going to be exciting.”