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Adam Jones, the wild-haired Harley Davidson-riding prop, will be charged with saving the Lions tour today, when the selectors hand him the vital No3 jersey for the Second Test.
Jones proved his value last week, when he shored up the scrum and tamed opposite number Tendai 'Beast' Mtawarira after coming on for Phil Vickery during the 26-21 defeat by South Africa.
The Beast catapulted Vickery into the air early in the match and then proceeded to leave the Lions with no option but to withdraw the World Cup winner from the action early in the second half and establish an all-Welsh front row.
While the trio of Jones, Matthew Rees and Gethin Jenkins are not equipped to demolish the heavyweight Springbok front row, they proved in that second half in Durban that they can live with the best - and that is the most basic of requirements at this level.
Having stood his ground and then made life uncomfortable for the Beast, Jones will pack down at Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria for the Second Test on Saturday confident he can make the wider rugby public acknowledge his skills as a player rather than remember him as the most successful of the Welsh "Hair Bears".
Together with fellow Wales and Ospreys prop Duncan Jones, Adam has achieved a special place in Welsh rugby folklore because of his refusal to cut the hedge of hair that is his trademark.
There was one match which featured Jones with his locks plaited close to his scalp.
However, this didn't last very long and he is comfortable with the "haven't brushed this lot for a month" look that is currently being aimed at the space between the Beast and hooker Bismarck Du Plessis in the Tests.
Both teams on Saturday have opted for front rows that spend so much time alongside each other, with the Welsh boys regulars on the Test scene, while the Beast, Du Plessis and captain John Smith are the Sharks front row.
Graham Rowntree, the Lions scrum coach, had chosen Vickery ahead of Jones on the basis that the man who led England to the 2007 World Cup Final had a wealth of experience to dig himself out of any real problems.
However, Vickery had his most embarrassing day in Test rugby, constantly penalised and left with a bemused look on his face and then forced to jog off the pitch after a very public failure.
Of course, it wasn't all down to Vickery, as his hooker, lock and flanker were supposed to be helping sort out the problems against the Springboks and they couldn't come to his aid with sufficient power and technique to keep him on the pitch.
Jones, with Rees at his side, shored up the scrum impressively but now starts the match knowing he will face a fresh and fired-up Beast rather than a player who had expended plenty of energy on Vickery.
The 28-year-old put in an extra 200 fitness sessions to get ready for the tour and proved to the many doubters he can do more than just hold up a scrum while helping his country claim two Grand Slams.
Now he will be hoping that the hard work will pay off this weekend and he can finally get one over the Springboks.
Saturday's narrow defeat in the First Test came after he had lost to the world champions five times while on duty for Wales.
After his Durban heroics, Jones will face the Beast for longer than the 20 minutes they clashed heads in the First Test and the presence of French referee Christophe Berdos is giving the Wales prop reason to believe it could be a different story.
He said: "Scrummaging is quite a macho thing and with a French referee we may be able to get away with a few things.
"He may be a bit more lenient and make it a bit more of a contest."
