Clarkson's 3am text, Italian ancestry, and his Lions debut
Having come off the bench in the second half of the Lions' win over the First Nations & Pasifika XV, Clarkson became Lions player number 886, with chairman Ieuan Evans presenting caps to him and the other debutants in the dressing room afterwards.
'I didn't even know they did caps if you don't play in the Test,' said Clarkson.
He hadn't thought about the Lions much until he got a text from Andy Farrell at 3am when he was on a night out with his Ireland team-mates following their win over Portugal two weekends ago.
Clarkson immediately made his exit from the bar.
'Some text to get,' he said. 'It was like, 'Ring me when you're awake', so I said 'Oh yeah, grand.'
'Then Paulie [O'Connell] rang me and was like, 'Ring him right now!' So yeah, I had to just compose myself and go outside.
'I told Jack Boyle and then just legged it.'
The Lions hadn't had an injury at tighthead prop, so Clarkson wasn't expecting a shout from Farrell. He jokes that he 'might have got the finger out' if there had been an obvious injury to one of the Lions players.
Clarkson with his father, Finbarr, in Melbourne. Dan Sheridan / INPHO Dan Sheridan / INPHO / INPHO
The reality was that Farrell wanted additional cover at tighthead for training and for the First Nations & Pasifika game. Clarkson was the next best available prop in the Lions boss's eyes.
'Tom Clarkson was 100% the next cab on the rank,' said Farrell last night.
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'If anyone's seen how he's performed over the last six months, they'll see why.'
Six months ago, Clarkson certainly wasn't aiming for a Lions call-up.
'Not a hope,' said the Leinster man. 'I only went in as a training panellist [with Ireland] in November, so I wasn't even really expecting to play in that. So to get a cap, I was delighted.
'The Six Nations, I was happy enough with how it went, I wouldn't have said I set the world alight or anything. So to then play well for Leinster at the end of the season and come in here, it's pretty mad.'
Despite his excellent form, there was a backlash to Clarkson's call from the Lions.
It was a little unfair to him that he was announced as a call-up on his own, whereas a group of three Scots were confirmed the following day. There probably wouldn't have been as much fuss if they'd all been announced together.
The Dublin native steered clear of the bile online.
'I tried to stay away from it, to be honest,' said Clarkson.
'I feel like the last few weeks in Leinster, before the semi-final, was fairly negative. So I think just kind of trying to use that as a bit of motivation. I knew, just because Jamie [Osborne] got called in right before me, there was a bit of backlash to that.
'So, I knew it was going to be even more when I got the nod.'
Sadly, this is something Clarkson has had to learn to do in recent years.
Clarkson with fellow Lions debutant Jamie Osborne. Dan Sheridan / INPHO Dan Sheridan / INPHO / INPHO
Social media is not a nice place for players.
'It was a bit of a shock at the start, to be honest,' said Clarkson.
'Obviously, like, you grow up using social media. So it was hard to step away from it. But I just had to get rid of a lot of that. I just use Instagram now.'
Whatever about the naysayers, Clarkson has loved being with the Lions since last week.
His father, Finbarr, just about made it to Melbourne in time for the game, having 'legged it down' to Australia knowing that it was likely his son would feature in last night's game.
Clarkson was rooming by himself for the first week in Brisbane but has been sharing with the unfortunate Darcy Graham, another late call-up, in recent days.
Most of his time has been spent catching up on everything the Lions have been doing, a process smoothed by his familiarity with how Farrell likes the game played.
He hasn't seen much of Australia outside of training venues and coffee shops, but he is loving every minute of the experience.
It has been a whirlwind last year for the Leinster tighthead, who is happy now that he didn't take up an offer from Italian rugby to follow up on his ancestry.
His mother's maiden name is Nina Cafolla. Her parents emigrated from the village of Casalattico, in between Naples and Rome, so Thomas could have switched allegiance.
In fact, Thomas's real name is Tomasso.
'They came looking for me, but I'd just signed a new contract with Leinster,' said Clarkson.
'That was at the start of last season. It had gone quite well, so I kind of pushed it off. I didn't end it. I thought it could be open at some point down the line.
'Obviously, this year has gone very well.'
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