Back firmly to the wall

In a funny way Neil Back seems to go into the third Test with more to prove than most. He was deemed surplus to requirements in the Lions juggernaut four years ago when only starting the losing third Test. He again missed out on the first Test here, only to start in the losing second Test. And the 32-year-old workaholic's counterpart, George Smith, is an irreverent 21-year-old widely touted as the best thing since sliced bread.

Furthermore, the home side seem sure to target the Neil Back channel as they did with better effect last week than had been the case against Richard Hill in the first Test. As journalists came to his interviewing table last Wednesday he was regularly asked at regular intervals as to how he thought he played last week. This line of questioning clearly conveyed a view that he hadn't played particularly well, and that being his own harshest critic he'd be normally be the first to admit it.

He wasn't inclined to this viewpoint however, and while at first he looked a little indignant ,by the time he was giving the same answer a fourth or fifth time, he was smiling knowingly.

"I've watched the game and I'm happy with my contribution. Throughout the game I thought I turned over a lot of their ball and was involved in some of our attacking game, obviously not as much as I would have liked, but that's just the way the game goes sometimes."

"I look at defence firstly and I made 18 tackles and dropped off two, which was poor technique. I like to achieve 100%100 per cent in a game so that's one area I've got to improve, but thankfully because of our organisation those supporting tackles were made.

"We've got to improve our defence. In the first Test we went forward and took their space, but in the second Test we did it part of the time but certainly not in the second-half. For their third try we didn't miss a tackle but they continually got over our gain line."

Nonetheless it seemed as if the dreadlocked figure of George Smith was far more prominent in the second Test with Back as his direct counterpart than he had been when Richard Hill had played there the previous week. Again questions about the 21-year-old Smith understandably appeared to annoy Back a little. The 32-year-old He isn't inclined to move aside for the Wallaby upstart just yet.

"He's a fantastic player," admitted Back, before adding a rider without even pausing for breath. "It's always easy when you're going forward. He's got a good eye for the break, he's got good hands and he knows how to live on the edge of the law, which is what a good (number) seven will do. It was a tussle last week. Sometimes he got in, sometimes I got in."

Aside from the workaholic and a model professional, the superbly conditioned Back also comes across as a disarmingly candid and honest bloke with a ready smile. Yet in their time of greatest need, the Lions have drunk heavily from the Leicester well and - Back is one of four players in the starting line-up who bring that Leicester edge to the Lions' cause today: "I've lost three games this season and I don't want to lose a fourth."

As a sub-plot to this tour, potentially there could have been a frisson of unfriendliness between Back and Scott Quinnell following Back's observations about the Welsh and Lions number 8'seight's desire and fitness levels in his book Size Doesn't Matter a couple of years ago. "He's a superb athlete. My comments which I spoke to Scott about _I spoke to Scott about my comments and he put his hand up and said they were right. I think he's a world-class player with tremendous natural ability, but there's always room for improvement. I'm not saying I'm going to do everything right but I try to, and I feel he can do a lot more to make himself a better player and then the world would really have to watch out. Certainly his performances on this tour have been world-class."

Therein lies the Back credo. As well as Size Doesn't Matter, another title might just as easily have been Whatever It Takes, although as he explains the two are related. His image as a workaholic/model pro? "It's perfectly accurate," he laughs, "of course I am." No, it's been well documented that some-one Here is someone who is tailor-made for the professional game.

"I'm still looking for my perfect game. I think everyone is, and everyone can still make huge improvements since the game turned pro. The advice on dietary and recovery methods is always changing and improving, so players are going to get better and better. No-one's No one's the finished article."

His diet stipulates that he eats only brown bread and brown pasta, not white. Thus far he's only had two glasses of wine with two separate meals on tour, and is particularly methodical with regard to his recovery from matches, thus ruling out all night all-night sessions. "Having said that, if we win at Stadium Australia I'll have a drink on Saturday night, Sunday, Monday and Tuesday."

Accordingly, Back belongs to the more hard-nosed element within the Test team who don't have much truck with the bleatings of the more disaffected element within the party, even going to far as to call the likes of Matt Dawson, Austin Healey and Malcolm O'Kelly who have been critical of the set-up in Australia as 'naive', albeit without naming names.

"Given the length of the tour, the early weeks had to be tough, so that we could taper the preparation for the Test games, which is exactly what we've done. I think anyone who has moaned or worried about it was a bit naive, coming out here thinking it would be any different. So I've got no complaints about the amount of work we've done. I felt we needed to do it. We're a professional team here to do a job of work."

For Back though, while this will be his last Lions tour, the sacrifices have been greater than was the case the tour four years ago. "It does get tougher. I've a daughter now whose who's 20 months old (Olivia). It is difficult being away from home but you keep in touch and your family is now here. In the greater scheme of things it's not too long a time and when I get back I'll have a month off to spend with my family, but it's part of a professional's lot. And absence makes the heart grow fonder."

In the longer-term, he's thinking of his longevity, and he's clearly glad that the arrival of Josh Kronfeld at Leicester, coupled with the emergence of Lewis Moody - who made his debut for England on their Americas' tour last month - reduces the demand s demands on him at Leicester. He won't be returning to play until mid-September at the earliest, "but I still want to get back playing a food few weeks before the Ireland game in October."

That's for then, this is now, and being away from his wife Alison and Olivia, all and all the other hardships of the tour will all be worth it for this model pro.

"This set of players will never play together again. As a professional sportsman it's fantastic. When else would you get an opportunity like this to play the world champions, one-all, in a winner-takes-all third Test," he smiled. "It's what dreams are made of, innit?"