New boys up for it Down Under

The team room at the end of the second floor of the Brisbane Parkroyal is barely any bigger than the verandah which adjoins it via the sliding glass doors. Yesterday morning, the management would have sat behind the main table, generously covered in white tablecloths, and read out the names of the starting XV to the 28-man squad tightly assembled on about five rows of seats in front of them.

". . .13 Brian O'Driscoll. . . 11 Matt Mostyn. . .9 Tom Tierney. . ." On hearing their own names, the rest probably went by in something of a blur, drowned out by their own thoughts. The temptation to jump out of their skins, never mind their chairs, must have been almost irresistible.

In that same room yesterday evening, the said trio of new caps were assembled on the other side of the table for a press conference. For Matt Mostyn, particularly, this was scarcely anything new. Being Australian-born, his novelty value to the home media has ensured interviews are pretty much a daily occurrence.

"At first it was wearing me down a bit because I hadn't really played yet. If I was playing well and they were speaking to me then I would have been happy, but I hadn't done that. Today's nicer. To share my first cap for Ireland with these guys is very exciting."

Mostyn admits that he regarded himself as third-choice winger on arrival here. But he's claimed three tries in two starts to go with a brace in his A debut against the Italians. The irony now is that the 24-year-old, 6 ft 2 in, 15 st winger's first cap comes on native soil.

"I was just talking to some of my friends, and they'll be there along with my mum and dad and my girlfriend Renee, so that mightn't have happened if it had been in some other country."

It is a measure of the challenge facing the newcomers that their direct opponents are Ben Tune, Daniel Herbert and George Gregan.

Mostyn qualifies by virtue of his Irish grandfather, a route he used to secure an Irish passport initially to overcome problems in playing for Begles Bordeaux in France. Even though Mostyn hadn't been named in any Irish squad by that stage, the intervention of Gatland helped, in part, to overcome that bureaucratic hiccup.

The 20-year-old O'Driscoll has a more established bloodline given his father played in two uncapped internationals against Argentina and he's also followed a more orthodox route via Blackrock College, Irish schools and the Irish under-21s.

He's handled his status as one of the great white hopes of Irish rugby with some elan. "To be honest I was looking at just trying to get into the first 22-man squad. I was thinking of just getting a foot in the door - I'm only 20 - and that the 22 would be an achievement in itself."

His opponents, Daniel Herbert and Tom Horan, have just a tad more miles and caps under their belts. "I've respect for them because Tim Horan has been around for so long, but to be honest, like any other opponent, you give them respect but it's just you and him at the end of the day. It'll be fun, leave it at that."

O'Driscoll was reluctant to confirm that his new moniker within the squad was Franno - although Mostyn was quick to interject "I can confirm that this is true."

"I was afraid this would come out. Back in January when I was first brought into the squad, I had a hamstring injury and I was sitting some of the sessions out. Ernie (Eric Elwood) thought this was amusing. He said: `That's exactly how Franno did it'. In the Glenview it kicked in when I did the same thing again, everybody thought it was hilarious and I guess that's how it stuck."

Tierney's route has been perhaps the most troubled, for even though he was never banned for a positive drugs test the season before last after an under-21 international in Paris, it almost certainly cost him a place on the South African tour a year ago. This tour chance only came about as a result of injuries to Conor McGuinness's toe and Brian O'Meara's finger.

"South Africa is in the past. That's just yesterday's news now and I'm happy to be here, because I wasn't first choice coming out on this tour. That's the thing that I'm delighted about, that I've just taken my chance now."

Tierney's chances have been comparatively limited this season, even for Munster, and his best belatedly came along in the A international against England last March. "That was a funny match," he said. "The build-up went well but the first 20-25 minutes, I think I tried to do a small bit too much on my own and things just didn't go right. After that things went well, but I think the damage was done in the first 20-25 minutes."

Following on from Irish Youths and under-21 caps beforehand, that, he admits, was a good learning experience for him, the evidence of which was an assured tour bow in the opener against NSW Country, when he timed his first snipe after 33 minutes so well that he scored the game's first try.

This, admittedly, is a sizeable step up in class for the 22-year-old former Richmond and current Garryowen scrum-half against the Wallabies and George Gregan. "I know now what I don't have to do and do have to do in the first 20 to 25 minutes of a big game. I'm going to go out there relaxed. I've no problem in my own ability and all I can do is give it a go."

Gregan, he admits, "is one of the guys that I would have looked at a lot, and I would have tried to take some parts of his game. It's going to be a huge challenge, but I think I'm up for it. I think all the boys are up for it."

Cardiff and Swansea have have signed eight-year agreements with the Welsh RFU. And they have agreed to pay the £150,000 fines levied on each club for opting out of the Welsh League last season.