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Alex Corbisiero has a wheat intolerance. Scott Heppell/PA Wire
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Beast behind St Patrick's Day massacre says Wallabies are brown bread

Alex Corbisiero has a history of mincing Aussies, just ask Tom Court.

MAKO VUNIPOLA WAS selected as a ball-carrying, impact prop off the bench. The men he was in line to sub on for, Cian Healy and Gethin Jenkins, were sent home from Australia injured and the loosehead made a strong case to start the First Test.

Warren Gatland was undeterred. Ryan Grant, from South Africa, and Alex Corbisiero, from Argentina, were beckoned and the latter gets the No.1 jersey against the Wallabies on Saturday. The head coach cited rain showers, forecast for Brisbane this weekend, and Vunipola’s ‘huge impetus’ off the bench as reasons to select one England international over the other.

Irish rugby supporters will remember Corbisiero (un)well. The New York-born prop gobbled up the injured Mike Ross and the forlorn Tom Court in England’s 30-9 St Patrick’s Day massacre of Ireland in 2012. Scrum after scrum caved in and Court, a Brisbane boy, was left at home as Ireland toured New Zealand the following summer.

Corbisiero was ruled out of this year’s Six Nations when he picked up an injury in January. Joe Marler and Vunipola did a fine job [in four out of five games] for England but the loosehead toured Argentina with his country this month before the call came to replace Healy. The 24-year-old feels he did enough in his warm-up matches with the Lions and is thrilled to get the start this weekend.

He said, “I’ve focused on my set-piece and trying to be accurate and efficient with everything I do around the park. I’ve been given the nod but it was a tough call as there are a lot of quality players out here… Every time I played [here], I tried to make an impact.”

Corbisiero has profited from Cian Healy’s tour-ending injury. (©INPHO/Dan Sheridan)

Corbisiero added, “There were definitely some dark times [after the injury] this season, when you’re sitting there, can’t play and are frustrated. It’s taken its time but it’s good, looking back now, that there was light at the end of the tunnel… Anyone that has doubts or question marks over my career, I’m trying every week to show them what I’m capable of. I’ve got a long future in this game.”

He is looking forward to welcoming Adam Jones into the otherwise English front row [Tom Youngs is hooker] and recalls the impact the Welshman made against the Springboks in 2009.

Corbisiero added, “We’re going to look towards giving a good attacking platform to our boys and to make sure we’re as accurate as possible.”

Saturday will be the first time the 18-times capped prop will face the Aussies and he remarks that the Lions ‘will have to put it up to them physically’. “We’re not going to take them lightly,” he said. “It is going to be a tough contest and one of the real battlegrounds of the Test.”

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