O'Driscoll gets the nod at full back.
June 6, 2001

Graham Henry has pulled the first surprise of the Lions tour by naming Ireland centre Brian O'Driscoll at full back against Western Australia in Perth on Friday.

The gifted O'Driscoll has stood in at full back for the past few training sessions, and with Iain Balshaw carrying a minor injury is preferred to Matt Perry at the back.

Ireland captain Keith Wood will lead the side in the absence of tour skipper Martin Johnson who has been rested after a demanding end of season for his club Leicester.
Speaking of his decision to hand O'Driscoll the No.15 jersey Henry said "I think he can play very well there, that's the first thing. But the major reason, we're looking for options. So if we have 22 in a test squad and we don't have another specialist full-back apart from the 15 who's playing, he's an option. And it would be difficult to do that if he hadn't played there before.

Looking forward to Friday's game Henry denied that the opposition would be a walkover. "I'm sure the Western Australian guys will play out of their skin on Friday night and we have to treat it as a major game, which we will. This is a very important game. It sets the standards for the rest of the
tour," he added.

Lions Team: B O'Driscoll (Ireland); B Cohen (England), W Greenwood (England), M Taylor (Wales), D Luger (England); R O'Gara (Ireland), R Howley (Wales); D Morris (Wales), K Wood (Ireland, capt), P Vickery (England), D Grewcock (England), M O'Kelly (Ireland), R Hill (England), N Back (England), S Quinnell (Wales).

Replacements: I Balshaw (England), R Henderson (Ireland), A Healey (England), S Taylor (Scotland), J Davidson (Ireland), J Leonard (England), R McBryde (Wales).

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