SEAN O’BRIEN DOES not come across as a man that worries too much about rugby matters but the Lions has jellied nerves of steel for many a year.
The Tullow Tank got a text on Tuesday morning to let him know he had been selected for the Lions Tour to Australia this summer. O’Brien admits he was ‘too nervous’ to watch the live announcement from London but was ‘a happy man for the evening’ once that fateful text appeared on his screen.
The versatile back-row need not have fretted – he is one of five Irish Lions that were certainties to travel – but elimination from the Heineken Cup, following the group stages, did not help his cause. O’Brien was thankful that Warren Gatland and his coaching staff opted to look at the wider picture and take along six Leinster men. He told TheScore.ie:
I suppose [the selection] is over the last couple of years. We’ve played in a number of big games and were in the mix every year, come final time. Those things stand to you as well.”
O’Brien describes his first Lions call-up as the ultimate accolade in rugby. While the Carlow native is delighted to be in the elite squad, sitting on the bench as the action unfolds, he says, is not his mindset. With Sam Warburton locked in to start the First Test, at the very least, O’Brien will have to prove himself all over again at blindside flanker on No.8.
He commented, “As an individual, you want to be starting. Hopefully, all going according to plan, that’s where I’ll be. I’ll be very determined to go about my business over there to try and make that Test side.”
Training sessions will be the opening auditions followed by an exhibition match against the Barbarians in Hong Kong on 1 June – a week after a Pro12 Final that O’Brien intends to win with Leinster.
Warburton, speaking after the squad announcement this week, spoke about the added class that the Irish, English and Scottish players should be able to offer against an Australia team that have developed a winning habit over Wales. O’Brien’s first task is to convince Gatland that he is good enough to augment Wales’ impressive back-rowers.
If he can manage that, the problem of shutting him down will fall to the Australians. We wish them luck.
