‘We need to do justice to the Lions jersey’

CAPTAIN Paul O’Connell says it is crucial the Lions do justice to the red jersey in South Africa this summer unlike four years ago when they suffered a whitewash Test series defeat to New Zealand.


Ian McGeechan’s Lions squad are continuing their preparations for the 10-match tour to South Africa at a training camp at Pennyhill Park in Surrey this week. The squad departs for South Africa on Sunday next with the opening match in the tour taking place on Saturday, May 30 when the Lions face a Highveld XV in Rustenberg.
The tourists then play a further five provincial fixtures before taking on the world champion Springboks in Durban, Pretoria and Johannesburg on June 20, 27 and July 4 respectively. Lock O’Connell said the experience the Irish and Welsh players had gained from winning Grand Slams should stand them in good stead during the tour, but playing for the Lions was the next step up for all the squad members.
“We have a lot of players who have been a bit more successful,” O’Connell pointed out this week.
“Ireland got the Grand Slam at last, the Welsh have two. For a lot of those players being on a successful Lions tour is the next level.
“We need to do justice to the Lions jersey, I don’t think we did that in 2005. We need to do the Lions proud over there and see what happens after that.”
The 29-year-old lock said the squad needed to work on gelling as a unit as quickly as possible.
“First and foremost, the talent is here,” Paul O’Connell insisted.
“The coaching staff have very good ideas on how we want to play and how we want to perform. I think all those bits are going to be ticked off so it’s about us coming together as a team.
“We don’t have a lengthy time frame so we don’t have time to suss each other out. We really have to work on coming together as a team in a short space of time. If we can do that then we’ll have a very good chance.”
Meanwhile, two Munster players will win their first full international caps when Ireland face Canada in their summer international in Vancouver this Saturday. Winger Ian Dowling and flanker Niall Ronan are two of the six new caps named in Declan Kidney’s side to face the Canucks at Thunderbird Stadium. Kick-off is at 10pm Irish time (Live coverage on RTE 2).
New caps Dowling and Ronan are two of seven Munster players named in the starting XV for the game. The Magners League winners are also represented by winger Barry Murphy, scrum-half Peter Stringer, prop Tony Buckley, lock Mick O’Driscoll and number eight Denis Leamy.
The replacements’ bench will feature five players who are in line to win their first caps if introduced. These include Limerick-born hooker Sean Cronin and Munster full-back Denis Hurley.
Fourteen-time capped scrum-half Eoin Reddan, who will move from London Wasps to Leinster later in the summer, is also named on the replacements’ bench.

Ireland: Gavin Duffy (Connacht), Barry Murphy (Munster), Darren Cave (Ulster), Ian Whitten (Ulster), Ian Dowling (Munster); Ian Keatley (Connacht), Peter Stringer (Munster); Tom Court (Ulster), Rory Best (Ulster), Tony Buckley (Munster); Bob Casey (London Irish), Mick O'Driscoll (Munster); John Muldoon (Connacht), Niall Ronan (Munster), Denis Leamy (Munster).
Replacements: Sean Cronin (Connacht), Mike Ross (Harlequins), Ryan Caldwell (Ulster), Donncha Ryan (Munster), Eoin Reddan (London Wasps), Niall O'Connor (Ulster), Denis Hurley (Munster).

Colm Kinsella