"Of course I want to go and any player who tells you that he's not thinking about it is probably lying. You want to be the best...and being a Lion is an important part of that." Huw Richards talks to Wasps's Tom Rees

Tom Rees is used to crowd reaction at games, but found it something of a novelty as it accompanied England's well attended public training session at Twickenham this week :"It was a bit weird hearing applause, or jeers if a ball went down, but it's a nice idea.

"Everybody thinks of themselves as a bit of a coach and it gives them a chance to see what we do - even if some come away thinking 'is that all they do with their time? And it is only part of the preparation. A lot more goes on behind the scenes."

It might also be decent practice for the end of the year because open training sessions are a feature of British and Irish Lions tours - while neither Graham Henry nor Clive Woodward was keen on them, they can be expected to be part of the back-to-what-makes-the-Lions-special approach of Gerald Davies and Ian McGeechan.

England's flanker with Welsh roots - his father comes from the Swansea suburb of Mumbles - definitely has a trip to South Africa along with the Lions as a high priority for the coming season :"Of course I want to go and any player who tells you that he's not thinking about it is probably lying. You want to be the best you can and achieve everything you can as a player, and being a Lion is an important part of that."

Open side is one of the most fiercely contested places on the plane with other runners including the apparently indestructible Martyn Williams and impressive Scottish newcomer John Barclay. Rees, though, did himself no harm at all on England's tour of New Zealand, proving himself more than worthy of a place on the same field as All Black skipper Richie McCaw.

Rees is too much the team man not to have been thoroughly disappointed by the New Zealand experience :"When you get beaten like that you can't be anything other than pretty much pissed off", but admits that the admiration for his own efforts in adversity was a saving grace :"It is gratifying at a personal level, although I think some people have gone a little over the top".

His performances were enough to suggest that at nearly 24 - his birthday is September 11th - he is ready to seize the regular England place many have been predicting for him over the last two to three seasons. Suitably refreshed after a four-week break :"I was able to get away completely and I enjoyed the time off. I feel a lot better than I have for quite a while - or at least I did until we started the fitness exercises !", he recognises that his career has reached a vital point, saying :"You do reach a point when you have to step up from being a promising young player to being an established international".

The chances are he would have been there by now, but for a series of injuries. He rightly rejects any suggestion that he is injury-prone :"Getting injured is part of playing rugby, of doing what I do and putting my body in the places that I do. It isn't something I dwell on, but you have to deal with it when it happens, and you know that everything can change in an instant."

He suggests that change will come rather more incrementally under England's new regime "It isn't as if we're re-inventing the wheel", but does expect to have to work particularly hard to come to terms with the new Experimental Law Variations being trialled this season :"I didn't see much of the Super 14 or Tri-Nations, but it looks as though there will be a few changes in the contact area which obviously affects me in the position where I play. I know that the idea is supposed to be to open the game up, which should suit me, but it'll be a steep learning experience, particularly in the first few weeks."

Put that like that, it suggests there will be serious benefits in a period of adjusting to new realities for those who grasp things first - always one of Rees's great strengths. You'd not bet against him being on that plane to South Africa.