EVEN stories about Brian O'Driscoll's darkest days tend to paint him in a good light. So it proved as Rob Kearney recalled him getting dropped for the third Test of the British and Irish Lions' 2013 Tour of Australia. Kearney teed things up by recalling how when O'Driscoll was initially called to a meeting with head coach Warren Gatland, the assumption was that he was going to be made captain for it. He cited how their fellow Ireland legend Paul O'Connell had broken his arm in the previous match-up whilst Sam Warburton had also gotten injured so a new leader had to be selected. Kearney told the Indo Sport podcast: "It was a weird atmosphere (when O'Driscoll got back and told them he was being omitted from the matchday 23). "All the players were shocked. But Brian mucked in to be fair to him. "Some of us went out for drinks that night and I texted him 'Are you coming down to the pub for a few pints?' "But he replied 'No, I'm doing video analysis with Jonathan Davies'. So I responded 'You're a bigger man than me!' "It was class of him because it would've been very easy for him to say 'Sod all of this, I'm going on the beer.' "Especially because Twitter was around then so we were able to feel the absolute uproar and rage from back home here." Host Joe Molloy tacked on the point that it's not like the then 34-year-old had to keep in Gatland's good books in case he was in charge of the next Tour in 2017. Ultimately, the Kiwi was able to point to the result in that third match-up with the Wallabies to justify his contentious selection call as they walloped their hosts 41-16 to secure a 2-1 series triumph. They had been pipped 16-15 in the previous encounter while they took the first battle 23-21. Kearney predicted another 2-1 victory for the all-star squad in this summer's edition of the fabled rugby tradition. Andy Farrell's outfit play the first of 10 total fixtures this evening at the Aviva Stadium in what could prove a very tall task against Argentina. Wednesday saw him name his starting XV for the 8pm kick-off. The headline item from it was that Tadhg Furlong looks set to be handed a chance to prove his fitness, albeit off the bench. The prop has not played since Leinster’s Champions Cup semi-final defeat to Northampton because of a calf injury. He is joined in the replacements by Rónan Kelleher, the only other Leinster player involved because they were involved in the URC final win over Bulls at the weekend, in which the hooker came off the bench. There are still three Irish players in the starting XV with 2021 tourists Bundee Aki of Connacht and Munster’s Tadhg Beirne included, along with Bealham. Aki and Bealham’s provincial teammate Mack Hansen is also included among the replacements. Farrell has not included any Bath representatives with the side involved in the Premiership final against Leicester Tigers on Saturday. Lions: M Smith (England), Freeman (England), Tuipulotu (Scotland), Aki (Ireland), van der Merwe (Scotland), F Smith (England), Mitchell (England), Genge (England), Cowan-Dickie (England), Bealham (Ireland), Itoje (England), Beirne (Ireland), Curry (England), Morgan (Wales), Earl (England). Replacements: Kelleher (Ireland), Schoeman (Scotland), Furlong (Ireland), Cummings (Scotland), Pollock (England), Williams (Wales), Daly (England), Hansen (Ireland)