Back returns as roof closes on Corry's ambitions

The Colonial Stadium roof will be drawn shut for tomorrow's second and possibly decisive Test between Australia and the British Isles, so Martin Corry will not even have the option of looking to the heavens for spiritual sustenance. The Leicester loose forward, one of the form Lions since being summoned as a replacement for the Scottish No 8 Simon Taylor almost a month ago, has lost his starting place to his club-mate, Neil Back. Rugby is often a cruel game. Sometimes, it is not even that nice.

Corry's relegation to the bench came as no great shock, for the Lions' selectors had always indicated their desire to tweak the line-up in an effort to stay one tactical step ahead of their already bewildered hosts. But the signposting did not make the decision any easier for the 27-year-old Tiger to bear. The poor chap has played out of his socks since flying into Townsville for the early match with the Queensland President's XV and, in the words of the chief coach, Graham Henry, has shown the tour hierarchy that they "stuffed up" by omitting him from their original 37-man party.

For all that, Back's recovery from a rib injury guarantees a one-on-one contest with the dreadlocked Wallaby breakaway George Smith that should be one of the highlights of the series. Back is the proud owner of 41 England caps, precisely 37 more than his rival, but the two of them have been bracketed together since the younger man first played in England during last autumn's Wallaby tour of Europe. Both relish the wide open spaces, both play close to the ground at the breakdown and both flirt dangerously with the offside law whenever they feel they can get away with it. The better breakaway tomorrow may well decide the overall outcome.

With Matt Perry ready to resume at full-back after passing a fitness test on his damaged abductor muscle yesterday, there are only two further changes to last weekend's victorious 22: Corry replaces the suspended Colin Charvis among the replacements, while Dorian West relieves Gordon Bulloch of the back-up hooker's spot. As a result of Henry's tinkerings, Englishmen now constitute very nearly two-thirds of the élite squad.

Donal Lenihan, the Lions manager, had planned to name his side today, but was told in no uncertain terms by the International Rugby Board's representatives that the 48-hour deadline was not a figment of the imagination and advised to get on with it.

In truth, the Wallabies lost little sleep over the timing of their opponents' announcement: they have enough problems of their own, without fretting over a minor issue of sporting courtesy. But it at least gave John O'Neill, the chief executive of the Australian Rugby Union, an opportunity to up the ante a little. "It appears the Lions are playing games," he said. "Rules and regulations are there to be complied with."

O'Neill won a more significant victory when he secured agreement to close the roof at the 55,000-capacity venue. "Syd Millar [the chairman of the Lions committee] and I sorted it out in our usual fashion," he grinned. "Syd said it was fine to close up, just so long as we opened the roof at half-time if the Lions were losing. I had no problem with that, of course: as I explained to him, it takes 40 minutes to complete the operation."

Lenihan probably found the comic banter less than entertaining, especially as he had fought long and hard to keep the playing surface open to the elements. The manager takes the view that rugby is an outdoor game, and that one test of a team is its ability to adapt to the prevailing weather conditions: a gusty wind, a sudden downpour, three feet of cloying mud. The point was put to Vernon Pugh, the chairman of the IRB, when he arrived here yesterday, and he had considerable sympathy with the argument. Then, somewhat contradictorily, he added: "I don't see this decision as a major change in the ethos of the game." Really?

By common consent, the governing body of the sport did not enjoy the greatest of days yesterday. Having spent much of the last two years highlighting the dangers of player burn-out, Pugh revealed plans for an annual challenge match between select sides from the two hemispheres, north and south. He also indicated that a fixture between the Heineken Cup holders, Leicester, and the newly crowned Super 12 champions, the ACT Brumbies, was also on the agenda for early next year. So much for cutting back on the number of games.

"I am confident the north-south match will take place next year, either in the June-July window or in November," he said. "We are currently negotiating a venue, and there is fantastic interest from around the world. It will be a one-off game, with the potential to showcase rugby as a boom sport and, in commercial terms, to generate income that can be used for development purposes. The profit we make from the World Cup is not enough to meet demand. We currently spend £5m a year on rugby development. The demand is for five times that figure."

Both Japan and the United States are thought to be interested in hosting the cross-equator match. "A number of governments have expressed an interest, but there has to be some rugby integrity in our choice of location," added Pugh. As for the integrity of cramming yet more activity into a fixture list already at breaking point... well, that did not feature among the chairman's priorities.