WE’RE ALMOST POSITIVE that Luke Romano was joking when he suggested he didn’t know who Paul O’Connell was.

Almost.

After all, if you’re going into a game looking to swipe away the strongest pillar Ireland have to offer then the Munster lock and Ireland captain would ordinarily be the first port of call.

“We do our analysis on who we’re playing and obviously he’ll be the man that’s opposite me,” says the Canterbury Crusader, Romano.

“You watch how they play and get their general trends and that. But personally, I’m just really focused on my own game and that. I haven’t had a lot of rugby, so if I start worrying about how an opponent is going to play it’s going to detract from my game and things I need to be doing right, so it’s at the back of the mind, but fully focused on my role in the team.”

Nerves

Romano, whose first taste of international rugby was the 60 – 0 thrashing of Ireland, sums up a feeling within the All Black camp this week. They will do their due diligence to green threats, sure, but if they have their game own together then there are few teams in the world capable of living with them.

The Crusaders second row suffered a torn groin in the opening Rugby Championship win against Australia. The injury forced him out of action for 15 weeks and out of the big thrilling games that were to come. Unlike Dan Carter, who Romano points out had the same issue during the World Cup, he didn’t require surgery to the problem as his kicking responsibilities are nil.

Last week, Twickenham rolled into view with Romano named on the replacements list. It was one of the few occasions when the lock found himself nervous, he admits, but the final quarter gave him a set of heaving lungs to replaced that anxiety.

“I was probably as the most nervous I’ve ever been prior to a game. Just a combination of facts – a little doubt whether my groin would hold up to it – but once I’ll got out there and got involved it’s like putting a glove back on.

“There is no substitute for match fitness. You can train all you want and get relatively fit running and that, but until you actually play a few games you get back in the groove it’s pretty hard. I was feeling it a bit out there in the last 15 minutes, but I enjoyed it. Obviously if I get an opportunity this week I’ll be a lot better for it.”

After sitting out the big moments of what he could help turn into a momentous season, Romano reluctantly agrees that the group and their on-field processes have grown much tighter since June. That said, he concludes with an easy-going Nelson, “Nah, all the boys are pretty tight anyway. I might have been away, but [Kieran Read] still gives me shit, so nothing’s really changed.”

He later added: “It’s not that tough really because I was part of the structure at the start of the year.

“I had a pretty good grasp on it. Coming back in I was a little bit rusty, but coming into these three weeks in camp with the first two weeks not playing, I was able to sharpen up a bit and get a bit more rugby specific training in. Back home I was more rehab focused. The last few weeks have been l really beneficial for myself.”

So he’s ready, willing and able to spend an afternoon wrestling with Paul O’Connell then?

“Good question, what one’s he?”

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