Ireland locks Malcolm O’Kelly and Paul O’Connell did their British & Irish Lions chances no harm at all with imperious displays in their country’s
-13 Six Nations win over Scotland at Murrayfield.
The giant second rows both had more than one reason to celebrate as they each crossed over to help Ireland turn an 8-0 deficit into a lead which they never looked like relinquishing, while O’Kelly was also named man of the match on the day he became Ireland’s most capped player.
Lions coach Sir Clive Woodward will have been watching with interest as he weighs up his options for the tour of New Zealand, but the Irish pair are undoubted favourites to team up at lock this summer.
Denis Hickie, John Hayes and Gavin Duffy also crossed for the Irish to cancel out Hugo Southwell’s early effort, before Jon Petrie claimed the Scots’ second try.
O’Kelly told BBC Sport: "We are absolutely delighted. It was tough to begin with.
"The Scottish players came out really firing and we had to stick to our guns.
"We were going to play a real simple game and keep it tight. We did that today and we showed a little bit of flair at the end.
"So we are pleased and we will go on to the next game with confidence.
"We knew the Scots would come out firing as they always do.
"But we knew what we were capable of and knew that it had been a simple error which led to the try.
"We just picked ourselves up, knew we were capable of scoring tries and that is what we did.
"Scotland were never going to stop fighting and it is a credit to them and their coaching staff who drill them hard.
"But that is what the game is all about and we expected no less."
