Jenkins knows he has one or two senior players in the side who could be in contention for a Lions call-up before the summer is out, but he also believes the younger contingent of the team to face the Canucks will be playing with an edge.
“The senior guys in the squad will want to show what they have to offer, to show their class and wear the jersey with pride,” said Jenkins.
“They’ll know the Lions selectors will have an eye on Wales at the weekend and with a chance of injuries on the tour there are one or two boys who would be in the box seat for a call up.
“Then we have some younger guys who will be immensely proud to be pulling the shirt on again and will be looking to show what they can do and ensure they can stay in this environment.
“This is a big tour for the whole squad and the players will be looking to be right on their game tomorrow for different reasons.”
And Jenkins has personal reasons of his own for ensuring his side are in perfect nick ahead of this first match of the two-Test tour, after taking on the extra responsibility of attack alongside kicking in his new guise as assistant coach.
“Personally this is a big tour for me as well with a new role as an assistant coach and looking after the backs, it’s a bit different from my kicking role that I’m used to,” added Jenkins.
“ The kicking is just important to us as well as the attack, but it’s an expanded role for me which I’m very much enjoying.
“We are all right where we want to be at the moment, enjoying the moment and very much looking forward to the game tomorrow.
“Canada will be tough opposition. No one will be analysing them as much as we are and we know they are a tough physical outfit who could well have turned Ireland over last weekend if things had gone differently.
“They gave us a tough Test at the Millennium Stadium last time out too and they will be targeting us as a game they’ll think they can win. We need to put all our hard work into practice if we are to achieve the result we want.”
