Sporting behaviour by leaders in show of national pride

THE French president left the Taoiseach in no doubt about what was important when he paid him a pre-match visit at the Elysee Palace.

“We must win,” Nicholas Sarkozy explained to Bertie Ahern as he rushed him through a working lunch in a record 45 minutes at the Elysee Palace yesterday afternoon.

“I got the feeling that it was a national duty and he told the captain that. I wouldn’t dare do that to the Irish,” said a clearly impressed Taoiseach.