Dan Sheehan goes from ‘despising’ Ellis Genge to loving ‘funny bloke’ Lions prop

Enemies have become friends on the British and Irish Lions tour to Australia after Dan Sheehan revealed that Ireland target Ellis Genge is now a valued team-mate.

Previously front-row rivals, Sheehan and Genge have joined forces on the 10-fixture expedition Down Under with both players strong contenders to start the first Test against the Wallabies on July 19.

Sheehan’s Ireland would hunt down Genge during the Six Nations knowing he is among England’s most impactful players, but since coming into camp the Leinster hooker has seen a different side to the fiery prop.

“It’s mad how fast you can go from despising people to hanging around with them and going for coffee!” Sheehan said.

“It’s probably just that rugby blokes are good blokes and you can turn on the hatred when you want it. But getting to know people has been one of the most enjoyable parts of the last few weeks.

“Genge would be a good one. He’s obviously a passionate, animated player for England and someone who we, as Ireland, would consider as a talisman and someone, in an Irish jersey, we’d need to target.

“Now he’s one person you enjoy having on the team. And he’s a funny bloke off the pitch. Everyone loves him. You can see the passion he brings to meetings, on to the pitch and in the scrum.

“He’s very real and says it how it is. He’s definitely someone that surprises you that he’s not a d***head.”

As part of the Leinster contingent that was taking part in the United Rugby Championship, Sheehan was effectively ruled out of playing against Argentina in the tour send off in Dublin on Friday night.

But the 26-year-old is likely to be involved in Saturday’s collision with Western Force and his first outing for the Lions can not come soon enough.

“Hopefully I’ll get a chance this weekend, or if not then next week. I want to feel I can contribute to the jersey just as others have had their chance,” he said.

“Being able to prep properly in a week with a proper Test feel to it, showing why I was picked, putting my best step forward and doing what’s best for the team – I feel sometimes if you haven’t played yet you feel like a bit of an imposter.”

The Lions on Thursday name their team to face the Force with Sheehan insisting the biggest challenge facing head coach Andy Farrell is gelling together players from four different nations as quickly as possible.

“It’s tricky. Test rugby is so detailed, every inch of the game we play today is so hyper-detailed that it’s tricky to do in two weeks. You probably saw that in Dublin on Friday,” he said.

“Knowing how much talent there is in the room and getting that all working together is what Andy Farrell has been labouring on with us already.

“There’s so much talent in the room and how we get it on to the pitch is the main challenge of the tour. Hopefully now we see an improvement, every Saturday and Wednesday.”