Last summer, after the Irish tour of the Americas Rob Henderson finished a two-hour work-out in the gym and stopped to ask himself what he had been trying to achieve. Unsure of the answer, he decided to look up the Yellow Pages and ring a personal fitness trainer, Warren Loughlin. With that a Lion was born.
Needless to say this simplistic tale doesn't tell the whole story. Henderson had already surprised the Irish management with his improved fitness levels before the World Cup, although not enough to earn selection for that tournament. Having toyed fleetingly with the notion of retirement, he returned a stronger man and better centre last season.
He needed the misfortune of others to earn a recall to the Irish A squad which defeated England last season and won promotion to the Irish senior squad under similar circumstances for the seismic win in Paris, but hasn't looked back since. Even so, earlier this year Henderson sat down with a friend and calculated that he was 17th in the Lions pecking order.
In his first ever Lions start against a Queensland President's XV today Henderson finds himself in a position where he has to prove himself with limited opportunities on this tour. Nothing new there then.
As this is the largest Lions squad for the shortest Lions tour, opportunities for individuals will therefore be reduced. The big guns will be wheeled out this Saturday for the first major game of the
tour against the Queensland Reds, when a rested Martin Johnson will lead the Lions in the first of three trial games with the Test series in mind. The team for that game will be announced in Townsville tomorrow at 12.30 p.m. local time.
After the Reds, Australia A follow in Gosford the following Tuesday and then they face the New South Wales Waratahs in Sydney on Saturday week. Three final trials in a week. By then the team for the opening Test against the Wallabies in Brisbane on June 30th will have been formed, or at any rate ought to have been, with the game against New South Wales Country in Coffs Harbour at most a chance to run the rule over one or two positions.
The man well primed to stake an early marker for inclusion in the Test team today is Jason Robinson. There has been a rollercoaster media campaign behind the former rugby league winger ever since he switched codes earlier this season.
A one-time bad boy who has since become a devout christian, Robinson lists the bible as his last read and Jesus as the only person he can think of that he'd like most to meet. With his huge earphones attached to his walkman, he looks like a real dude though apparently he is listening to "various christian music". When news of his Lions selection was broadcast on teletext Robinson was oblivious to it as he doesn't have a television in his house due to its "unchristian content".
He still gives the impression of a rugby league convert who has the most rudimentary knowledge of union rules. But man can he run. The most enjoyable drill of the opening week's training saw various teams of half a dozen players chase a kick ahead to a back three in which Robinson was a permanent fixture. One stealthy counter-attack through the advancing line drew the biggest applause of any individual from his squad mates. Privately Lions players admit they dread going one-on-one against Robinson, as he's liable to make a monkey out of anybody with his twinkle-toe sidesteps.
There seems to be a belief that at the very least Robinson can replicate the effect that another league convert, John Bentley, had on the Lions tour of South Africa four years ago. Warts and all, Bentley could dance, and aside from his generally infectious off-the-pitch humour, he scored something of a seismic try in the crucial 20-14 win over the Golden Lions in Johannesburg. Robinson is thought to be the player who could have such a galvanising effect. Nor are the Lions party over-endowed with potential Test wings.
Injured Lion Simon Taylor will attempt to shrug off the disappointment of his abridged tour when he begins his trek back to fitness at Murrayfield's training centre this morning. The Scottish backrow forward was forced to return home at the weekend following a knee ligament injury sustained during the demolition of Western Australia.
