Welsh encore just what the doctor ordered for Roberts

THE last nine months in the careers of Brian O’Driscoll and Jamie Roberts have largely been defined by the fact that one has spent much more time in hospital than he would like, whereas the other has not patrolled the wards as much as he should.

The best Lions centre partnership in a generation have both endured testing times since Wales ended Ireland’s World Cup hopes in October, but for differing reasons.

For O’Driscoll it has been thesurgeon’s knife, as Ireland’s skipper underwent an operation to release a trapped nerve in his shoulder that has ruled him out until May. For Roberts, the scalpel, the stethoscope and the study books, as he returned to his medicine degree after taking six months off to focus on Wales’ run to the semi-final in New Zealand.