GERRY THORNLEYtalks to Luke Fitzgerald who is hoping he has done enough to get the green light for Saturday

A BIT like governments, Lions’ management tickets can be forgiven for only thinking of their own short-term needs and not leave a legacy. But it’s to this management’s credit that they will pass on a clutch of young players who should be in Australia four years from now, and, all being well, even become three or four-time tourists.

Into that category come Keith Earls, Jamie Roberts, Luke Fitzgerald, Rob Kearney, Tom Croft and others, and the unlucky Leigh Halfpenny would have been another. The benefits ought to extend beyond that, for this tour is sure to have fast-tracked their development and made them better players.

“Definitely,” agrees Fitzgerald. “I think exposure to new coaches and playing with all the best guys from Britain and Ireland is always going to improve your game. It’s interesting to see how different guys do things and I’m learning from all of them.”

Fitzgerald’s education looks likely to be enhanced this week when the team is confirmed today, for his form looks the best of the contenders for the left-wing slot, although conceivably if Lee Byrne is passed fit Ian McGeechan and his coaches could decide to move Kearney there. But at the very least a place on the bench looks probable.

Fitzgerald would have known Tuesday night’s game in Cape Town afforded him a good chance, but also a last chance, to stake a claim for a Test place. But no less than Shane Williams and Keith Earls, he would have watched the stormy weather throughout Wednesday with an empty feeling in his stomach. It was hardly designed to see them flourish in an attacking sense.

“It was obviously disappointing when we looked out the window in the morning, especially given there was a bit of pressure to perform. With there being a selection meeting tomorrow for the Test you wanted to put in a big performance and it was difficult enough. But it was important that we put in a pretty solid performance as a back three, and I’m pretty sure overall that we did that. So we can be happy we performed I think but obviously disappointed that we didn’t get more ball.”

To compound this, the back three were subjected to a fair old aerial bombardment. “We were indeed,” admitted Fitzgerald with a chuckle. “They loved an old high ball. It was raining Gilberts out there. But I think they played very cleverly and probably got their just rewards in the end. They hung in there very well.

“We were in the ascendancy for large parts of the game but were probably architects of our downfall in the end. We gave them a needless penalty on half-way near the end which gave them good field position and they finished off very well. Credit to them. Overall as a performance, I thought we did pretty well but disappointing to only get a draw.

“But that’s life.”

Fitzgerald, no less than any player and perhaps, given he has a very real chance of making the Test team, wouldn’t be human if he didn’t pause to think how his own evening went. “To be honest with you I was really happy from a personal perspective. With the conditions being as they were I thought it was important to put in a solid performance, and I thought I did that.

“I felt I did everything that was asked of me and defended quite well at times. So I’m pretty happy and hopefully I’ve given the coaches a bit of a headache going in to tomorrow.”

The way the tour has panned out, it’s perhaps no bad thing if he makes the team this week. Tuesday’s game was his fourth of the tour and he’s looking more and more at home in the Lions’ jersey since making a belated debut in the third game of the tour at inside centre, between James Hook and Keith Earls, in the 26-24 win over the Cheetahs in the high altitude of Bloemfontein.

But playing four nights later at sea level in Durban at his more customary position of left wing, Fitzgerald looked razor-sharp in pretty much all he did and scored a try. The service to him in attack has been scant since, and some of his superb lines up the middle have either gone unseen or, on Tuesday evening, the short, flat pass from Hook was almost impossible to hold. His kicking game let him down slightly against the Southern Kings, and while there was one loose kick on Tuesday night, he was secure under the high ball, made one searing break through the middle and, in a defensively solid effort, saved a couple of tries with last-ditch tackles.

There’s only so much a player can do to nudge the selectors on a night like that, but in any event Fitzgerald is desperate for a place in the team. “Oh I feel ready for it, yeah. I’m absolutely gagging for it now. We’ll just have to wait and see how things go. I’m pretty relaxed about the whole situation now. I feel like I’ve done the best I can now.”

You wonder if he has had something of a short straw in not being given his tour start until the third game, and at inside centre. As he points out, though, he did play the autumn series alongside O’Driscoll in midfield, and in Leinster’s first four Heineken Cup games before Christmas, mostly at inside centre.

“I suppose I was probably taken out under that pretence that if one of the boys got injured, which is unfortunately what happened,” he says, chuckling. “But I don’t really feel hard done by. I’m delighted to be here. It’s really fantastic and I’m enjoying myself. It probably made things a bit harder given I didn’t get as many opportunities as I would have wanted on the left wing before the first Test. But we’re here now and I think I’ve done a pretty good job.”

That he has and, it would seem, his time has come.