ENJOYING THE FIGHT OF EARLS.

Byline: MICHAEL SCULLY

KEITH EARLS has been getting ribbed this week for his selection in an otherwise an-all Leinster back line - but the Moyross flier can have the last laugh against Fiji this evening (6.30pm).

The Leinster contingent have been having fun at the Munster man's expense but it will get serious today as a number of players look to impress Declan Kidney.

New cap Jonathan Sexton is one of those and it will help the outhalf that he is on familiar ground and with a familiar back-line.

"Obviously we are comfortable with the fact that we train with each other an awful lot more and play with each other an awful lot more so from that regard it should help the likes of Sexto out a little bit," said Brian O'Driscoll.

"But at the same time when you start wearing green it's kind of like the Lions to a degree - forget nationality, we are all wearing the same colour jersey so you forget the competitiveness of the provincial teams and just get on with it."

O'Driscoll said that Earls is a "huge, huge talent" and is "frightening to take on one on one".

Earls lines out on the left wing in the position vacated by the injured Luke Fitzgerald, while Shane Horgan is back on the right flank.

For the Ireland skipper, a conversation with Horgan yesterday underlined that no motivation is required for the test game sandwiched between Australia and world champions South Africa.

"Shane was saying he hadn't started an international for 18 months so when you get the opportunity to start one- irrespective of who you're playing against - you are going to try and play your very best game," he said.

"Having said that, one part of our professionalism is that you give each team the respect - we won't do anything differently just because it's a lower ranking team than Australia or South Africa.

"We'll play with the same intensity. Irrespective of who you're playing against I think you do yourself an injustice if you don't treat a Test match as a Test match".

Irish supremo Declan Kidney paid tribute to the staff who have kept the RDS in pristine condition - but the weather is expected to turn ahead of tonight's encounter.

"There's nothing any of us can do about that, it will be there the same for them as it will for us," he said.

"It won't affect the type of rugby we've always tried to play and that's to be smart about the opposition, we're just going to have to play what's in front of us.

"We would have the height of respect for Fiji. They've been to the quarter-final of the World Cup.

"Weather permitting, it would have the makings of a good game. If the weather doesn't permit it we both just work our way through it."

CAPTION(S):

OPPORTUNITY Keith Earles