AUTUMN INTERNATIONALS:A GRAZE on the side of his head and a couple of Twickenham nicks around the eyes. The massive bulk. An easy, uncomplicated manner. The yards mark themselves out on Rocky Elsom's face and body, but this time he is back in hostile mode and with the fresh scalp of England in his kit bag.

Just off the plane from London and sitting in the Burlington Hotel in Dublin, the Australian captain is already sinking into a warm feeling of familiarity. Elsom used to live just around the corner as he spent a season building up a legendary status just about faster than anyone else has ever done.

Apocryphal tales have emerged from Donnybrook since he left, with one of Leinster’s tactical calls as complex as “give the ball to Rocky”. Five seconds later there was the broken gain line, Rocky festooned with opposition shirts, the ball still clamped to his chest and Leinster 15 yards better off.

Elsom’s warrior simplicity drew him many admirers, but now he is back with his new Wallaby team-mates to face some of his old Leinster compadres, and, in rugby’s lovin’ fashion, back to bash O’Driscoll, trample Heaslip, sack Fitzgerald.

“It feels pretty good to be in Dublin, actually,” he says. “Maybe it’s the Sunday afternoon. I’ve always felt relaxed here. It’s pretty easy getting around, and also outside of rugby I had a pretty good time. Everyone was good to me, so I’ve good memories.”

Here to win, Elsom’s ordination as Australian captain also brings bigger exposure to criticism if the team begins to waver. Tentative suggestions that they are also on a longer term strategy to build towards the next World Cup are pushed aside like a scrumhalf caught in the 10 channel with Elsom exploding off the back of the scrum.

“If anyone was to talk of the next World Cup then I’d be annoyed,” he says. “There is a lot of time between now and then. We can win now and we can win these games. It’s not going to be easy. We’ll have to put everything into it. Looking towards the World Cup, people can say that. We’re a young team, so people can say we are building towards the World Cup. The problem with that is, it’s probably an excuse you’d use after you lose.”

A unique take. Rather than off-load the excuses before the match, Elsom dispenses with them within five minutes of sitting down in Ireland. He clearly remembers the second half of their opening Test against England and not the first. But, as he says, this is a young team in which he is now commander.

But he knows a little more than most Southern Hemisphere captains. He knows that Croke Park will be like nothing in Australia, and he looks back to Leinster’s Heineken Cup semi-final there against Munster as an unusual and rewarding experience.

“I really liked that day. I think I said at the time it was one of the happiest dressingrooms I’ve ever been in,” he says. “The occasion, the noise . . . coming out into it was deafening for the whole game. If we were on the field together, we’d have to be this close (two feet) and watching my mouth to understand what I was saying.

“We’ll need to address the noise element, because compared to the crowds we get in Australia it’s very loud. We just need to make them aware of it and they should be fine. I don’t know if overwhelming is the word. It’s very different to Lansdowne Road, a much bigger stadium, even a bigger pitch.”

Declan Kidney has not picked the Irish team yet and Elsom acknowledges that many of the hotels in which he seems to spend his life are not equipped with Setanta and the Magners League. But he expects Ronan O’Gara to be the outhalf he and his backrow will try to disrupt.

“I’d know how they (Ireland) play. But then again, what are you going to do about it?” he shrugs. “It will be no different than what we do against any other good side. With Ronan they’ve a great kicker and they play field position very well and we’ll have to deal with that. But anyone can see that.

“Johnny (Sexton), I think he’s pretty dynamic. He can marshal the backline pretty well. He seems to be very calm under pressure. A Heineken Cup final is a pretty pressurised situation. And he was pretty calm that day. So I don’t think that it will be a disaster when Ronan stops playing.”

Elsom folds his arms and takes on the appearance of a small mountain range.

“We haven’t thought too much about Ireland until today,” he says deadpan.

And you believe him.