Ice cool ahead of fiery first Lions tour match

Former Munster out-half Ronan O’Gara believes the Lions making their debuts tomorrow in Hong Kong will be given a massive boost after Warren Gatland named Paul O’Connell captain for the opening match.

O’Gara soldiered with O’Connell for Munster, Ireland and the Lions and heralded the Limerick second row as one of the best he ever played under.

“The tour officially started with that announcement,” he wrote in his exclusive Irish Examiner column on Page 27 of today’s paper.