Donal Lenihan

I am sure the Lions party were pleased boarding their plane to Durban yesterday safe in the knowledge that they are still unbeaten on tour and that they will not be returning to Bloemfontein again on this particular safari. Suffice to say it is not the most exciting place in the world and remains a bit of a throwback to a bygone era.

The opening three games have offered a bit of a mixed bag and Springbok coach Pieter de Villiers is still a bit unsure of what the tourists are capable of. For twenty minutes on Saturday against the Cheetahs the Lions picked up from where they had left off in Ellis Park last Wednesday with some great offloading phases which left the home side for dead. Twenty unanswered points in as many minutes against the Cheetahs suggested another rout was on the cards.

From the moment however that Ireland’s impressive flanker Stephen Ferris found himself in the bin, the home side, who had finished bottom of the class in this year’s Super 14, were in the ascendancy outscoring the tourists by 24-6 from that period onwards. Had the goal posts been a little wider a last minute drop goal could well have undone the Lions.

The test team is taking shape and the selection for tomorrow is interesting. Already it looks to me as if all positions from No 8 (Jamie Heaslip) to No 15 (with the exception of the left wing slot) look nailed down for the Test XV, i.e. the backline that played against the Golden Lions with Lee Byrne at full back. The one potential variable there is at out half where Ronan O'Gara needs a big game against the Sharks, who will be missing up to ten of their side because of the demands of the Springbok training camp. O'Gara could well suffer from Tomas O Leary’s unfortunate injury as the easier option would be to keep the Welsh half backs Mike Phillips and Stephen Jones together.

The Irish lads have all done exceptionally well to date and it was great to see Keith Earls display the range of skills that everyone knows he has after his difficulties in the opening game. The next two games will decide the composition of the test team and the tour is now set to take off.

I'll focus further on the Lions Test permutations in  my column in the Irish Examiner tomorrow.