Test may be home farewell for Digby Ioane IT has sneaked up on everyone, including the man himself, but the first Test of the British and Irish Lions series almost certainly will be the last time Reds and Wallabies winger Digby Ioane plays at Suncorp Stadium. With the Brumbies securing top spot in the Australian conference, the only way the Queensland Reds - and Ioane - will play again at their Suncorp fortress this season will be if they finish fourth or better on the Super Rugby table to earn a home quarter-final. Currently fourth is where they sit on 54 points but they have only one match remaining, against the Waratahs in Sydney on July 13, while the Cheetahs (46) have another two still to play and the Crusaders (46) and Blues (44) three. But if events don't play out in the Reds' favour, Saturday's Test will be Ioane's farewell to Brisbane before he leaves for France to take up a two-year contract with Stade Francais. "It's a real blessing, to be honest, because it's 1 per cent of my lifetime I get to play in front of my home crowd," Ioane said yesterday. It's an extra boost for me because I love Suncorp Stadium. It's fair to say the stadium, or at least the people who fill it, love him back, never more than on the night be chased through on an Adam Wallace-Harrison hoof downfield to score against the Bulls in 2011 - and then sent the crowd into ecstasy with a break-dancing post-try celebration that went viral on YouTube. Ioane has only ever scored one Test try at Suncorp Stadium. He kept his celebrations fairly muted given that he was on debut for the Wallabies in the 31-0 defeat of Wales in 2007. It is fair to say that he and the one player from that Welsh team who has carried through to this Lions tour, halfback Mike Phillips, both are more demonstrative on the field these days. All of this is assuming that Ioane is cleared to play when the Australian side is announced tomorrow but it would almost seem negligent to leave him out of the starting XV given that he brought what teammate Adam Ashley-Cooper described as "magical healing powers" to bear to recover from minor knee surgery in time for this Test. Even as recently as last week it seemed unlikely Ioane would make it to the starting line after having had an arthroscopy to clean up ligament damage sustained in South Africa in the May 18 clash with the Cheetahs. "It came as a bit of a shock when he had to go for that operation," Ashley-Cooper said. Potentially losing Digby would be a big loss. It would have always been hard to fill his shoes but he's somehow recovered well and it's great to have him back in the backline and it's a real boost. He has magical healing powers. Ashley-Cooper is eagerly anticipating his first head-to-head battle with four-times Lions tourist Brian O'Driscoll. While they have done Test battle before, never have they both been wearing 13 on their backs. O'Driscoll created an indelible memory in his first Test appearance for the Lions in Brisbane on the 2001 tour, scoring a sensational try at the Gabba, and Ashley-Cooper cut short one questioner yesterday who dared to suggest the Irish maestro might not be quite as explosive as he once was. "I disagree," Ashley-Cooper said. I think that O'Driscoll has the experience and the ability to keep turning up. He's a soldier, one of the best 13s in the world so you can't presume anything with O'Driscoll. He's a freak, an absolute freak. Given the ability to play Brian on weekend, it'd be great. It would be a real test.