Different jersey, same smile for Gareth Thomas

When Gareth Thomas last played the All Blacks he was the Welsh captain and fullback of a side which nearly cracked a 51-year-old drought.

Afterwards he sat, in his underpants, after being dragged from the showers to an interview room, his body spent from exhaustion but his face holding a satisfied smile that Wales had once more earned international rugby respect.

They had lost by a solitary point, 26-25, and so nearly up-ended former coaches Graham Henry and Steve Hansen in Cardiff.

Next Saturday, Thomas is tipped to be wearing a different hue of red for the Lions as a wing in the opening test of the series with the All Blacks.

He will not be captain but he will be one of the leaders and showed that in his solitary tour game against Wellington, when his kick and chase for a try sealed the tourists' victory.

Thomas carried his smile with him afterwards as he spoke about his first match in the Lions garb.

"I loved it, it was great. The weather was not the best with all the wind and rain but it was the ultimate," he said.

"We will do a bit of analysis about it but if I can walk away from a game happy and smiling it can't be any better."

Thomas was a late arrival on tour, held in competition with his French club but eventually released to make his midweek debut and tilt for the test team.

A fullback for his national team, Thomas' limited kicking game has him switched to the wing on this trip where his powerful running and defence can be used as backup to Josh Lewsey's expertise at the back.

Thomas arrived in New Zealand to watch the Lions lose to the NZ Maori, a result he said put huge pressure on the midweek side.

"I am not a fan of looking too much at the telly or in the papers but you can't get away from it here.

"We were under pressure, you know. People were looking at this game and if we went belly-up people were saying the tour was off the rails and that was the end of it.

"We felt the pressure, we could feel it coming in from all sides so it was very important."

Thomas felt the Wellington victory showed the character within the Lions, how much they had pulled together in a short time, how willing they were to put their bodies on the line for a united cause.

"For me it was important, and my try was most important because it was for the good of the team and the victory.

"It was a massive honour to score for the Lions."

Wales had made great strides to get as close as they did against the All Blacks last year but it had taken three years of progress.

The Lions would need great tenacity, work, preparation and some fortune to beat the best team in the world on this trip. The most difficult part for Thomas was fine-tuning their defensive approach, staying in the systems devised by Phil Larder and his team, to cope with the cutting attacking edge of the All Blacks.

"There were times when I was a bit lost out there because I was not in key with it but I am confident we have enough world-class players to cope. It has to work, because if we want to beat New Zealand we have got to be up on our defence."

Gareth Thomas

35 Tries for Wales (their leading tryscorer)

83 tests

7 as captain