Player side-steps Lions-speak

Hearing members of the Lions party speak openly and frankly is rare, but it does happen.

Mike Ford, Ireland's much lamented former defensive coach, has been one such beacon, laying on the line the touring squad's deficiencies at the breakdown, without resorting to technical mumbo jumbo or the safety net provided by referee-bashing.

And Shane Byrne, now a strong possibility to join Irish colleagues Brian O'Driscoll and Paul O'Connell in the team to face the All Blacks a week today, is most gloriously another who speaks as he finds.

On the scrums. "No insult to referees, but they haven't a clue what goes on in the scrums."
On the conditions. "Guys like Jonny (Wilkinson) should be well able to handle the ball in the dew."
On his own lineout performance. "I was pissed off I missed a couple of line-outs in the end." Satisfied?

Byrne's individualistic streak may be franked by a hairstyle which is uniquely old style but, hey, at least it's unique. And who else would own up to enjoying the Crazy Frog ringtone?

Yet on the field, he has imperceptibly shed the label of eccentric and after his first start as a Lion in Wellington last Wednesday - he came on in all but the Taranaki outing - the prospects of him claiming the number two jersey are not to be sniffed at.

Steve Thompson's bulk purports to be a reason why Clive Woodward may prefer the Englishman, but more and more people are beginning to doubt a guy who, has had a throwing coach for two years, yet couldn't hit a barn from five paces, never mind its door.

"Look, if it happens, it happens," he says. "You always try to make sure you do the best so when the opportunity arrives you're in good nick to do it. There's absolutely nothing I can do. I won't be involved on Saturday so you just hope you've done the best you can do so you're there in the shake-up.

"Of course it was a factor against Wellington. As each game comes around, the clock is ticking and you know the selectors are looking for partnerships, in the front row or line-out. You try to concentrate on your own game, think of yourself first and do your job right.

"I was happy enough with my performance but I've never come off the pitch thinking 'yeah, I finally had a brilliant game'. I really enjoyed it though.

And as the Lions finally got to grips with some of the nuances of forward play in these parts, Byrne's common sense approach to the problems his colleagues have faced should provide a template for a coaching staff who seem to spend more time staring at a blackboard rather than the training paddock.

"We couldn't attack in second-half scrums the way we wanted to so we had to adapt the scrummaging and the boys did so brilliantly. Okay sometimes players pop us, sometimes the ref punishes it, sometimes he doesn't. It happens.

"You've two responses, either go balls out and go to hell with it and hit them as hard as you can, or else play a little cuter once you have the strength.

Byrne also dismissed the weather conditions as an excuse for the lack of continuity displayed by his backs. "The conditions are always going to be the same over here whether it's raining or not because the ground will be dewy in the evening. "

While Byrne lives the life of a Lion for now, he may be a Wasp next season as a Leinster outfit leaking like a sieve seem set to let the 33-year-old slip through their fingers. Byrne's not worried about the fact that his only current contract is a short-term one - with the Lions. "Where else would you be? I'd like to say this is a dream come true but it's not. I never even dreamed of being on a Lions tour. I just won a game wearing the Lions jersey! It doesn't get any better than this."

- IRISH INDEPENDENT