Healey v Roff looks slightly risky

For the Lions' last throw of the dice, appropriately enough, Graham Henry and his fellow selectors have opted for the maverick talents of the squad's most noted gambler, Austin Healey, to give them more of a cutting edge, at the risk of leaving themselves more vulnerable defensively.

Dafydd James, by nature a centre - and a damn fine young one at club level - who had been converted into a left-winger for Wales, always made an unconvincing convert to the right wing role, though in the event probably obtained one more Test than most pundits would have expected and at least has a try to his name.

However, when push came to shove, Lions coach Graham Henry perhaps fell on his selectoral sword to a degree; Healey's inclusion constituting the one optional change to the Lions starting team for the third Test in Sydney this Saturday in addition to the two enforced changes which see Martin Corry and Matt Dawson come into the side for the injured Richard Hill and Robert Howley.

Henry maintained Healey "had been considered for the wing for the last testTest match but he wasn't fit" even though the player was originally chosen on the bench before withdrawing through injury on the day of the game.

Nonetheless, strictly on their form of late, it was hard to quibble with the decision announced yesterday and Healey certainly deserves his promotion on the basis of his match-winning tour de force in the comeback win over the ACT Brumbies last Tuesday week.

"Dafydd has played very well; Austin played exceptionally against the Brumbies. "No problem with Daf's form but Austin played superbly that night and we thought he might give us another dimension," said Henry.

Experienced Welsh observers of Henry were not too surprised at all, having felt that the coach had prepared the ground for James's omission by picking out the player's failure to look for the supporting Jason Robinson after cutting through the first line of the Wallabies defence in the fourth minute of the second Test.

That all-too-predictable, head-down charge for contact had probably cost him his place more than Australia wing Joe Roff slipping out of his clutches for the second of his two tries.

Even so, the thought of Roff, 100kg and 192cm6ft 4in, running at the somewhat slight Healey, 87kg and 5ft 9in, in a reprise of Roff's try-scoring performance against England and Healey at Twickenham last November will be a discomfiting one for Henry and co.

You still can't help wondering how things might have panned out at number 14 if Denis Hickie had been brought along from the outset.

In any event, either Henry was suggesting he had been reluctantly swayed by his coaching staff or was giving one of the best passes of the tour so far when asked about Healey's defence.

"There are a number of coaches on the tour - a lot from the England team - and they think he can handle that," he said.

With a further two changes forced on the management, it was always likely they would resist further upheaval to a team which, after all, Henry again stressed had the opportunities to win last Saturday.

There are four changes to the bench, with Colin Charvis being recalled to fill Corry's place, Darren Morris coming in for Jason Leonard, Will Greenwood for Dawson, and Ronan O'Gara for an injured Neil Jenkins.

O'Gara didn't even make the 27-man cut last week despite showing much better form than Jenkins before being belatedly promoted due to the Welshman's injury.

O'Gara won't be imbued with a sudden sense of confidence in him from the coaching staff with the knowledge that he is will be, in effect, third-choice out-half on the day - Henry confirmed that should Wilkinson be injured, Healey will move in from the wing, with Iain Balshaw being sprung from the bench.

Henry also admitted that the front five and primarily the props caused some discussion, with the scrum a cause of concern. "We had to consider the full game, and not (just) the scrum so that's the selection we came to.

"We won the first Test because we scrummed better and I think that was a major factor in the game," added Henry.

"The Australians scrummed better than we did in the second Test. I guess that's hugely motivational for the Lions' pack."

Henry confirmed that they are totally confident of Jonny Wilkinson being fit come kick-off in Stadium Australia (7p.m. local time, 10a.m. Irish) though in addition to him Neil Back, Rob Henderson and Brian O'Driscoll all took a limited part in training.

The toll of the last six weeks at the fag end of an 11-month season will send out result in a rather patched up Lions outfit.

The mood does seem to have been lifted considerably yesterday, following their first thorough session of the week, which prompted Henry to publicly declare "they were very good today." "It's been slow initially this week. I think we need to come down after Test matches.

"It's very hard to maintain the levels right through three weeks. The guys need a couple of days to come down. "They were much better today, very positive. We need to be realistic about how long guys can sustain levels through three weeks, especially after 11 months of rugby. "They were very professional today."

One little theme in the 22-man squads for the Tests has become so repetitive that it is no longer noticed.

At the start of the tour the competition for second-row places and especially the middle-of-the-line jumper was deemed to be the most intense of any area in the team.

Yet as events have transpired, not one of the forgotten trio - Malcolm O'Kelly, Jeremy Davidson and Scott Murray - have made the bench in any of the three Tests.

And what odds on that at the start of the tour?

Lions: 15-Matt Perry (Eng); 14-Austin Healey (Eng), 13-Brian O'Driscoll (Irl), 12-Rob Henderson (Irl), 11-Jason Robinson (Eng); 10-Jonny Wilkinson (Eng), 9-Matt Dawson (Eng); 8-Scott Quinnell (Wal), 7-Neil Back (Eng), 6-Martin Corry (Wal), 5-Danny Grewcock (Eng), 4-Martin Johnson (Eng/capt), 3-Phil Vickery (Eng), 2-Keith Wood (Irl), 1-Tom Smith (Sco).

Replacements: 16-Darren Morris (Wal), 17-Dorian West (Eng), 18-Colin Charvis (Wal), 19-Martyn Williams (Wal), 20-Ronan O'Gara (Irl), 21-Will Greenwood (Eng), 22-Iain Balshaw