The Irish connection

It's hard not to be parochial about these things, but as was the case four years ago, the sense of pride in the Lions was sure helped by the presence of three Irishmen in Saturday's team. The boost to the game in Ireland generally is incalculable.

They weren't exactly bit players. The boy wonder was made man of the match (RTE Radio); the bald wonder was simply at his inspired and inspiring best, while Rob Henderson has emerged as a quality centre at the highest level of the game.

"Defensively I was very happy with my performance," Henderson admits of an effort that led to a huge tackle count of 18, with not one missed.

"In attack I made a couple of breaks and a couple of mistakes. You're always looking for a perfect game I suppose, so there's room for a lot of improvement there. But generally I thought I played well. I enjoyed playing with Brian again."

In keeping with the transformation from bag of kittens to Hamlet man before games over recent years, Henderson says he has rarely felt so relaxed before a match.

"I was probably the most laid back I've ever been." After the Australian national anthem, there was a rendition of Waltzing Matilda, which prompted Henderson to hop along the 22 metre line and hum the tune to himself.

At half-time, Lenihan and Henry spoke. "It was all very serious," recalls Henderson. "So I went up to Mannix (Donal Lenihan) and I said "do me a favour, give me a smile. It's not World War 3 out there. I think he did. There was a slight curl in his moustache."

As regards the wounded Wallabies, Henderson says: "We've still got a lot more left in the bag we didn't show yesterday. Just one more massive performance to combat what they're going to throw at us. Because everything in the kitchen sink and half of Ayers Rock will be coming at us next week."

The bald wonder

Keith Wood was a bit cranky in the build-up to this one. He'd run himself hard against the Waratahs but there was an even bigger, meaner, nastier performance brewing inside for the last couple of weeks. Unsurprisingly, at the Gabba, he delivered.

Wood is, as Donal Lenihan said afterwards, a big occasion player. There is no more unnerving challenge for a hooker than throwing in against the Wallabies, for the world champions compete better than anybody on the opposition throw.

On Saturday, Wood was frequently changing the calls at the last second but the line-out was still a launching pad for many of the big Lions drives and one of the key planks for their win.

Like Phil Vickery his tally of 14 tackles was massive for a front-row forward, and he also came up with some of his trademark big plays.

"At times it's very hard to realise the magnitude of some of these things. You only realise it fully when you take a reflective view back on it," he said, reflecting yesterday on the day before from a suitably lofty perch on the 27th floor executive lounge of the team's Sheraton Hotel, no less.

"I've played reasonably well on tour without doing anything startling I suppose. I loved yesterday. It's why you play, but when it's part of a series you don't let yourself get too overly excited because all those things can come back to haunt you if you lose the series from being one-up.

" Truthfully, yesterday will mean nothing if we don't win on Saturday or Saturday week. It's an amazingly harsh reality, but there it is." As for the drop goal? "If not, why not?" It was 20 yards short at least. "Ten, I'd say, and by the time I get home this summer it will have shaved the underside of the bar."