Ireland’s back three reunited for Taranaki contest

GEORDAN Murphy and Denis Hickie have played down the significance of their inclusion in an all-Irish back three for the Lions’ game against Taranaki in New Plymouth on Wednesday.

Full-back Murphy will be in familiar territory when he joins wingers Hickie and Shane Horgan for the second game in New Zealand as the Lions management continues its commitment to give every member of its squad a run during the first three fixtures of the tour.

With Test-potential combinations featuring in the Lions’ opening game against Bay Of Plenty on Saturday, the selection of this back three could prove meaningful but both players and midweek coach Ian McGeechan have sought to diffuse such talk.

“Is there a down side to it? I don’t think so,” Hickie said. “It’s certainly not a bad thing but having said that, no matter what combination you’re playing with here, it’s not really about looking at playing with two guys in the back three you’ve played with for Ireland. I don’t think that counts for a huge amount on a Lions tour.

“Obviously I’ve played with Geordie more than a few times and the same with Shaggy (Horgan) and it’s not unhelpful. But in the context of a Lions tour it mightn’t mean as much as people might think. Of course there will be more cohesion, that goes without saying but that’s not to say if you play with guys you’re not used to playing with it’s going to be a major problem.”

McGeechan underlined that point when he said: “It’s a natural combination that’s fallen into place simply because we want players to have the starts. We wanted to build on the Argentina game and with people like Shane Horgan who hasn’t started yet, we want to give him a start.

“Then, when we get past the next game, maybe two, we actually want to review where we are with the players and then look at some of the combinations ahead of the first Test.

“So it does help sometimes when you’ve got international combinations but I wouldn’t put too much into that. The most important thing is sometimes seeing them out of their international (combinations), so you see their chemistry, of how they operate with somebody from another country.”

McGeechan named two other Irishmen in the starting line-up for Taranaki, with Munster pair John Hayes and Donncha O’Callaghan joining the pack at tight-head prop and lock respectively.

For Murphy there is the added bonus of being named alongside four Leicester team-mates but it is being part of an Irish international back three that gives him most comfort.

“In theory we should gel perfectly, having played together in a good few tests already,” Murphy said.

“It does make it a little bit easier. Both wingers are fantastic players and I’m looking forward to getting out there with them.

“But the trick of any tour is to be able to gel a team out of guys who haven’t necessarily played together before. It’s important for me to work on my relationships with the guys I haven’t played with.”

Murphy and Hickie made their Lions debuts together in Cardiff on May 23 against Argentina with Horgan joining them as a second-half replacement at centre. The experience was tempered by a disappointing and disjointed team performance as the Lions scraped a 25-all draw but Murphy is expecting a lot more cohesion on Wednesday.

“That’s what comes with a tour like this. You find yourself in Cardiff and you’ve met all these guys in internationals but you haven’t played with them and you don’t know the ins and outs of them just yet. We’ve had a few weeks together now and there’s a bit of banter flying around the squad and everyone’s getting to know each other pretty well. I’m hoping it will be a decent win for us.”

Charlie Hodgson’s inclusion means a place on the bench for Jonny Wilkinson, who was kept in Auckland over the weekend for physiotherapy treatment having sustained a contact injury during training on Friday.