Up for the match: Irish rugby fans make it to Rome for Six Nations clash

UP to 300 Rome-bound Irish rugby fans breathed a sigh of relief late last night after facing the risk of being abandoned at Shannon Airport for today’s start of the Six Nations.

Worried fans included parents and relatives of three of the Irish team.

They had an agonising day-long airport wait when a flight was cancelled because money was allegedly not paid over for the use of a plane by the organiser of a charter group.