Malcolm O'Kelly was wheeled out to jointly front the first players' press conference of the Lions tour in Perth yesterday, a sure sign he will be pulling on the famous red jersey for the first time against Western Australia this Friday. It can't come soon enough, for you can detect that no Lion is itching for it more.
He's been straining at the leash in any case ever since the squad has been announced, and his desire has only been intensified since the squad assembled. If there's been a recurring criticism of the freakishly talented Irish lock and likeable laid-back individual, it's been that he doesn't get as motivated as he might do for lesser matches, but the higher the stakes, the more he is fired up. Put him against All Blacks, Springboks or Wallabies every week goes the argument.
As of yesterday O'Kelly says he still doesn't know whether he'll be making his tour debut this Friday or next Tuesday against the Queensland President's XV in Townsville. But he turns 27 a couple of days after the tour ends and whatever about the timing of his tour entry, you sense he knows his time is now.
"It's been more intense and tougher than anything I've known since we came together but I haven't been overawed or anything. And we needed the hard work."
O'Kelly, in his biography in the media tour guide, says to play for the Lions is "the greatest achievement a rugby player can attain". He admits: "It's been motivating me since watching the Lions tour in a bar in some obscure street in Los Angeles four years ago. Myself and Kieron Dawson were the only two people watching it but it was inspirational, especially watching Jez (Jeremy Davidson)."
O'Kelly looks set to be one of four Irish players in the opening tour line-up. Brian O'Driscoll again lined up at full back during a training session in Tompkins Park, home of the local Palmyra club, to further indicate that the management may press ahead with this unlikely experiment against Western Australia.
O'Driscoll ran at full back in attacking moves during Sunday's two sessions and yesterday the 22-year-old Irish centre was employed at full back under the watchful eye of Phil Larder during defensive practice. Afterwards he had a lengthy conversation with Graham Henry, who clearly considers the ploy is a viable idea.
The rigours of the first two full days, and double sessions of two hours-plus to accommodate the work of the sizeable, specialist coaching staff have taken a bit of a toll. Joining Jonny Wilkinson (groin strain) and Dai Young (calf strain) on the sidelines for the afternoon session were Martyn Williams and Jason Robinson, who picked up an ankle strain and a sprained ankle in the morning session. There were only two apparent amendments to the shadow "team" which trained separately the day before, with Jason Leonard packing down at loosehead instead of Darren Morris and Will Greenwood stepping in for Mike Catt at inside centre.
Furthermore, Austin Healy stepped in at outhalf because Neil Jenkins took a limited part due to a facial injury below the right eye which required stitches. This had been wrongly attributed to a clash of heads with Malcolm O'Kelly. In fact it had been due to an accidental collision with Jeremy Davidson. Clearly, all part of a Ronan O'Gara plot.
The Wallabies were meant to show their initial hand yesterday but deferred their expected team announcement for their sole warm-up match against the New Zealand Maoris this Saturday due to an announcement unveiling their high-profile acquisition from rugby league, Mat Rogers.
A winger on Australia's rugby league World Cup winning team last year, the former Australian schools outhalf is being viewed as a potential long-term back-up to Wallabies outhalf Stephen Larkham.
Already this week, although mindful of the Brumbies having too big an influence, the Australian Rugby Union have ratified the succession of Eddie Jones to the Rod Macqueen throne. While he will not be involved during the series with the Lions, Jones will come on board in some capacity during the Tri-Nations.
