Catt and Dallaglio make Lions debut
Monday, 18 June 2001 20:01Centre Mike Catt will make his belated tour entry for the Australia A clash against Gosford and there is also a first appearance for back-row giant Lawrence Dallaglio. Catt, troubled by a calf strain almost since the Lions arrived in Australia, admitted that regular treatment table sessions and missing repeated training runs had proved incredibly frustrating.
"It has been very hard not being involved in any shape or form," said the 52-times capped England centre. "But injuries occur, and I am back from it now. I will re-assess after tomorrow night - it is one step at a time."
"The coaching and management team have been superb. They could have sent me home after a week, I think, but luckily I was able to get through today's training session, and I am just glad to be playing," Catt said. "There are still three games before the Tests start, and as we know anything can happen on a Lions tour."
Lenihan played down fears that Welsh fly-half points machine Neil Jenkins, who took no part in squad kicking practice today, might be struggling with a knee problem. Jenkins had a poor game against the Queensland President's XV last Tuesday, and resembled a forlorn figure wandering around the Manly Oval today as Matt Perry, Ronan O'Gara and Matt Dawson all went through their place-kicking drills under specialist coach Dave Alred.
"Neil had keyhole surgery before we came out here," Lenihan said. "Over the years, he has been kicking every day, but we are trying to get him to kick less often. He's fine though, and there are absolutely no problems for tomorrow."
Filed by Sinéad Kissane
