Hooker profile: Shane Byrne

Shane Byrne couldn't be happier if he was a kid given the keys to a sweet shop.

There is something appealing about listening to the Dublin hooker talk of making his Lions test debut at Jade Stadium tonight.

Byrne spent seven years as understudy to the outstanding Keith Wood before winning his first test cap four years ago.

Now, at 33, he gets picked for the biggest of all Lions tours. But he was not first choice for the tests at the outset.

Then he took his chance, threw straight - a big point which eluded his main rival, Englishman Steve Thompson - and hey presto he'll run out at Jade Stadium with a big grin on his dial.

"I'm on a roller coaster, just hanging on," the engaging mullet-haired Byrne said.

"I've no idea where it's going to bring me. I'll just wait and see where it stops.

"This is way beyond my wildest imaginations.

"This week is just too long. I wish I could get there now. Can't wait."

Just don't talk about dreams coming true for this honest journeyman. Remember, for years he had the brilliant Wood blocking his way even into the Irish national side, let alone anything loftier.

"I've said it 100 times: this is not a dream come true, because I never dreamed it. Ever.

"But you can't just live up there, you've got to come down to realism. You've got to sort yourself out and make sure you play well."

Byrne will be a good match for his rival, Keven Mealamu, tonight.

Neither is physically imposing, both are mobile, tidy ball handlers, and both may owe their selection to others' misfortune.

In Mealamu's case it is the calf injury which has sidelined Anton Oliver; for Byrne it is that Thompson, far bigger and stronger at the scrum, at times struggles to hit the side of a barn at the lineout.

That's a luxury the Lions can't afford, given their fondness for the set piece. So steps forward the more accurate Byrne.

Said coach Sir Clive Woodward: "I just think Shane, at the moment on what we've seen on the trip, his organisation, his lineout play, has been first class."

Woodward admitted Scotsman Gordon Bulloch was also unlucky to be overlooked.

Byrne is aware of the Lions history "because it's thrown in your face all the time", but he doesn't get too misty-eyed about it.

It first made an impact on him on their last tour of New Zealand in 1993.

"But it's not something that influences you when there's a black jersey running at you. Then you are only going to be influenced by the here and now."

Byrne got on to Eden Park as a replacement in Ireland's second test loss on their 2002 tour. But raise the topic of pre-match nerves and it becomes clear this is a bloke who is finding delight with every passing rugby experience.

"You get nerves the day before. Then something happens and the penny drops.

"You'll normally find in the national anthems I have a cheesy grin. I just want to get going."

Ask Byrne about the key elements tonight in the early stages and he'll say he's heard the usual lines about the first scrum or winning the first lineout. He reckons it's the first physical contact.

"The lucky bugger that makes the first hit. You search for that contact to get into it as quickly as you can.

"That's why if it's a good kickoff, the contact's made, all the forwards end up bailing into it. Bloody great. That's where you want to be."

Byrne said the key to making the Lions work is to take the best bits of what everyone brings to the table from the different nations and make it gel. It's been easier said than done on this tour.

"The good part of the Lions, taking the positive bits out of each part, is also a problem. It takes time to get those things together. Hopefully it will click in the test."

So watch for the short guy with the big grin tonight. "All you ever think is where the hell else would you rather be."

There's worse ways to pass the time?

"That's for sure. You could be working for a living."

* Born: July 18, 1971, Dublin.
* Height: 1.78m
* Weight: 98kg.
* Position: Hooker.
* Test debut: v Romania, June 2001.
* Tests: 38.
* Club: Leinster.