Johnny Watterson talks to former rugby league player Wendell Sailor who dislikes being regarded as Australia's answer to Jonah Lomu
You would not nickname this guy Wendy. Irish left wing Denis Hickie will not greet his opposite number tomorrow in Lansdowne Road with "Hello Sailor." That would not be wise.
Wendell Sailor talks the talk, as the Australians say in their tour guide booklet. Now he must obviously walk the walk. Sailor is the Jonah Lomu Wallaby. He despises the comparison to New Zealand's raging bull but since his switch from rugby league to rugby union last October, the comparisons have stuck.
The tour guide cliché is accurate and against Ireland Sailor will be looking to take his first steps towards a permanent place in Australia's World Cup side.
Black, athletically powerful and frighteningly able, his conversion to the 15-man game arrived in a blaze of publicity that is still burning brightly. As one of league's greatest ever wingers Australia have him in the starting line-up despite the fact that he is still finding his way. He is has played in only three union Test matches so far, twice against France and once against Argentina.
Legendary Australian winger David Campese doesn't think much of the 28-year-old behemoth but Sailor is equally at home behind a microphone giving it back. He's a front-line player on and off the pitch.
"I love scoring tries and I love when you can make breaks in a game, beat players. That's probably where I get my energy from - knowing that I've come off there and entertained. This year I've only scored two tries. I'm used to scoring more than that but I'm working on it."
With players like the imperious George Gregan at scrumhalf and serial match-winner outhalf Stephen Larkham working to get their outside runners moving, Sailor has the best delivery service in the business. But as Iestyn Harris and Jason Robinson have found out, stepping into the union camp is not just playing the same game with more players on your side.
"In league you can get the ball whenever you want it. In union there are so many variables. You can't just switch and make it. You've got to learn a lot of little things. I play a power game and on instinct. In union you gotta be at the right place at the right time and if you don't run the right line you don't get the ball," says Sailor.
"I played a game this year where I got the ball twice, dropped it once and made a tackle, so I've gone to touching the ball three times whereas in league I'd have touched it 25 to 35 times. Even on a wet day, you can touch the ball 30 times because you can get in there and do some forward work.
"Harris was a great league player but I hear he's been struggling. They put a lot of pressure on him. They threw him in there and said he was going to be the saviour (of Wales). Jason Robinson (England) has done wonderful but he's a freakish player.
"He was the best rugby league player I played against in 10 years. But I enjoy the pressure. My character is a little bit out there and I wouldn't have it any other way."
Sailor was told by Australian coach Eddie Jones last week that when he came off the bench against the Pumas in Buenos Aires, he was expected to make an impact. Jones will have said something similar for tomorrow's match even though Sailor is barely a year into a four-year contract with the Australian Rugby Union. Even the coach has high expectations.
"People try to compare me with Jonah," he says wearily. "But I've done nothing compared to him. He's performed at World Cups, played against the best teams and destroyed them single-handedly. Yeh, people say to me I'm like Jonah. I say to them, 'I've done nothing really.'"
Really?
