Woodward names six Irish Lions to face Pumas

SIX Irish players are in the Lions team for a Tour warm-up game against Argentina next Monday at Cardiff’s Millennium Stadium.

Though skipper Brian O’Driscoll is rested, four of Leinster’s Lions call-ups, Denis Hickie, Gordon D’Arcy, Shane Byrne and Malcolm O’Kelly, who toured Australia in 2001, will start (7.45pm, Sky Sports 1).

D’Arcy, whose Six Nations campaign was ravaged by a hamstring injury, will form a centre partnership with Leicester and England youngster Ollie Smith. Smith’s Tigers teammate Geordan Murphy starts in a back three completed by Hickie and Wales flyer Shane Williams.

While England’s 2003 World Cup hero Jonny Wilkinson has been given the nod at number 10, up front, Byrne and O’Kelly are joined by Munster’s John Hayes, with his provincial colleagues Donncha O’Callaghan and Ronan O’Gara and Leinster’s Shane Horgan on the bench.

Wilkinson’s appearance will be his first at international level since the World Cup final after a tortuous injury period when he twice had to overcome knee ligament damage as well as a potentially career-ending neck injury and a bicep problem.

After he injured his left knee once again during Newcastle’s game against Harlequins on March 13, Wilkinson felt his dream of pulling on the red shirt this summer was fading.

“There was a time, with my second knee injury when I was waiting for the scan, that the Lions seemed like a light at the end of the tunnel - but not a very bright one,” he said.

But the damage was not as bad as it might have been and when Lions head coach Clive Woodward challenged him to break into the squad, Wilkinson was determined there would only be one outcome.

Wilkinson proved his form and fitness with an exemplary display in Newcastle’s wildcard defeat to Gloucester. He was immediately added to the Lions squad and is now vice-captain for the first game of the 2005 adventure.

“I enjoyed the situation I was put in by Clive and I think he knew that as well,” said Wilkinson.

“It was up to me to play well. I’d rather be backed into a corner than be given something on a plate because of something I did a few years ago.

“I’d rather be fighting for something than be presuming something, living off past reputation.

“I believe things in rugby and in life don’t come for free. You earn your success and your right to play.

“For me it has been very difficult to do that. I don’t like thinking about going back to the past and what I did as part of that fantastic England team a year or so ago.

“I haven’t been able to go out and perform, not through a lack of trying but through the situation.

“I hate feeling like I am not earning the respect and confidence of the players around me. I felt it would be difficult to earn a place in the squad.

“The likes of Stephen Jones, Ronan O’Gara and Charlie Hodgson have been playing solidly all year.

“With that in mind I found it difficult to see how I would earn a place.

“Now I am here, I will continue to try and do that. I am very grateful and lucky to be here.”

Wilkinson has put all those worrying times behind him. The Lions is brand new canvas and he is determined to make his mark - starting with Monday’s historic clash with Argentina.

“I feel the Lions tour creates a level playing field. I have had fewer games than many people and that was unavoidable due to injuries,” said Wilkinson.

“But the Lions is like a start of a new season. You want to get your game going as quick as you can and that puts us all into a similar boat.

“Everyone will play together for the first time. This is our chance now. I’d like to think any time on the field is helpful to me at the moment. I’ll have to see how I react to the pressure of a Lions home game in Cardiff.”

The Lions will be captained by Wales number eight Michael Owen, who becomes the first man to lead the Lions in a Test match on home soil.

Woodward said: “I spoke to him last night and it took him less than 0.1 seconds to accept that role.

“He had a fantastic Six Nations and reflects why Wales were successful. It is a huge honour to captain the Lions at any time, but this will be a very special occasion for Michael to captain the Lions in this game in Cardiff.

“I have no doubt he will acquit himself well.”