Tahs' big bopper faces toughest test Seven months ago Will Skelton was a two-metre tall mound of passably agile puppy fat trying to put a few hits on Test-capped Waratahs for bragging rights among his mates at the NSW academy. On Saturday, in the absence of those same players and having shed most of the excess padding, Skelton is one of the Waratahs' starting second-rowers, charged with taking the fight to what must be considered one of the most intimidating second-row partnerships recently assembled. Is the 203-centimetre, 135-kilogram man-mountain nervous about staring down British and Irish Lions veterans Paul O'Connell and Alun Wyn Jones in front of 45,500 people at Allianz Stadium? Putting some mongrel in the Waratahs: Will Skelton will make his second start for the Waratahs when they face the Lions on Saturday. "I am preparing like it is going to be a war out there," he says. I am really pumped to play and pretty nervous, too, but it's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Skelton uses the phrase "full metal jacket" when he recalls the opposed training session at Moore Park at which he first attracted the attention of coach Michael Cheika. He did not play much rugby last year because of a broken foot but was determined to make his presence felt against more experienced players. Helter Skelton: key facts. He will don the same armour against the Lions, making up for his lack of experience with a hardness he - and the Waratahs - hope will stack up. "The first carry gives you an idea of how the game is going to go, the first tackle and the first ruck," Skelton says. But we want to win. I really hate losing and the guys are not going into the game talking about a glorious defeat. If you go in there saying 'let's just have a contest', we will lose. Our game plan is pretty simple and if we stick with it, and stick to our structures, we'll get a result. The game will be the 21-year-old's second start for the Waratahs, following his run-on debut against the Force last weekend. And while the absence of Test players Kane Douglas and Sitaleki Timani is the only reason Skelton is starting against the potential Lions Test team, it caps an astonishing rise from New Zealand-born rugby league fanatic to part of a potential solution for the dearth of emerging second-row talent in Australia. "Being behind Kane and Sita through the year, I've learnt a lot," he says. When I first got signed I thought I might not get a shot this year, but I knew that just being in that environment would help me; learning the skills, the technical stuff around scrummaging and lineouts. He had some help earlier, too, although as a league-obsessed eight-year-old, he did not know its significance at the time. Skelton spent a lot of time following his cousin, the Blues second-rower, and former All Black, Brad Mika. Mika instilled in his young cousin the work ethic which, apart from his size, makes Skelton such an attractive proposition to the Waratahs. "He would take me and my other cousin to Super Rugby training in Auckland and we'd sit there and catch the balls they'd kick over," Skelton says. I remember him doing road runs and all these extras by himself. He taught me about that little bit extra that will get you through, and being bigger boys we need that extra training to keep up with the rest of the guys. The hard work hasn't stopped. Arriving at the Waratahs about 6kg to 8kg over his optimum weight, Skelton was put through a gruelling fitness program that regularly had him sprinting up and down the sideline while his teammates trained. Now approaching his ideal 130kg zone, he has notched several solid appearances after starting on the bench and made his full debut last week. It hasn't always been easy but a start against the Lions makes every painful session worth it. He credits Douglas and Timani, as well as Waratahs leaders Wycliff Palu and Tatafu Polota-Nau, with helping him get up to speed two years after joining Sydney University's lowest colts side. "When you're growing up, or in the academy, there's that transition when the coach can pull you aside and say 'you're not doing this right or that right' but at this level you need to know everything before you go on the pitch, so they are a massive help," Skelton says. To think I signed in March and now Cheika thinks I'm good enough to start in Sita's jersey. I'm really thankful and grateful for the opportunity. I'll play to the best of my ability and hopefully make a mark.