It's perhaps as much a compliment to the sorely missed Malcolm O'Kelly, who would surely never have allowed last week's carnage at the lineout, as anything else. But one of the ironies of Donncha O'Callaghan's career is he has now started more games for the Lions than he has for Ireland. And here he is, in the Test team, without being established in the Irish team.

Yet his gradual emergence to the starting team here, while in part due to circumstances, is also a tribute to this outstanding talent. A modern-day, dynamic secondrow, O'Callaghan has flourished in a manner that would never have been possible on an Irish tour, or even a World Cup campaign.

It's brought out a new "Donners" as well, less the prankster, more the head-down professional, who has knuckled down with four big "midweek" performances in four wins. Others have been injured, suspended or blown it, but O'Callaghan's performances might have got him here sooner.

With Paul O'Connell alongside him, and last week's fiasco an undemanding threshold, the circumstances are right for him to make a mark. A surprisingly small group of Irish journalists gathered around him at the Lions' media slot on Wednesday.

"Jesus, we'll get killed now for a clique, pull someone else in," he quipped, visibly relaxing when among familiar faces. So what had the moment been like when Clive Woodward read out the team that morning? "Kind of hair standing at the back of your head really. I was glad he went through the pack again, because you needed a second check to really believe it, and then when (John) Hayes came over and shook my hand, and Rog (Ronan O'Gara) the same, it sunk in I was in the Test team."

He hadn't much time to think about it, what with two training sessions on Wednesday before meeting the media on Wednesday evening. "I phoned home and got to phone my mum and (girlfriend) Jennie (who are out here) and it was great to hear how excited they all are by it. I'm just looking forward to kicking back and letting it all sink in."

Even being replaced the previous evening halfway through the Manawatu game hadn't alerted him. He didn't want to think like that. "Before the first Test selection, maybe I got my hopes up a bit and was very disappointed then when it was announced, so I didn't feel like that again."

His response was excellent, turning in another big game, when the 26-year-old led the cleanout statistics against Southland with 17. No sulking for him. "I know a Test spot is huge and it's massive, but I'm coming from a different place. To be on this tour is huge for me. When I came out here I just wanted to earn the respect of my fellow players in the squad, and to come away and feel like I gave it everything and I had no regrets, and so far on tour I can say that."

He couldn't get to play a match for love nor money for the first few months of the season, but maybe now he's fresher than most. "It seems so. It didn't seem so at the time when you had a few games away in Wales, in Gwent and stuff like that, which people wouldn't really see.

"I've just been happy to play with these players. You look around the room and there's heroes around the place. For me personally to get to tog out with the likes of Richard Hill is mindblowing."

His position now is not dissimilar to Martin Johnson. "I was watching something last Friday and Martin Johnson was talking about how he was called up to play in the second Test out here and he'd only played one game at the time for England against France. I was thinking, 'jeez, that's incredible'."

Those who know him a long time will be surprised to hear he's toned down the joker label as well, mindful of the company he's now keeping. "It's a question I always get asked now. Like everyone has kinda caught on I might be messing. But I made a conscious effort coming out here I didn't come out and just entertain fellas. You look at the Neil Backs, these guys, they don't want a piss artist who's going to waste their time."

The good news is it may also be improving him as a player. "I suppose there's stuff, rugby-wise, you'd pick up; but just seeing these fellas around the gyms, the way they look after their bodies is incredible. I'll know I'll get it when I get back home. 'You've changed' and stuff like that. But I think I have. I've hopefully hit a standard here that from now on will be the baseline."