Aviva receives first emotional down payment

ONLY yesterday morning one of the great cliches was set free once again and allowed to snort its way across breakfast tables everywhere.

A former England rugby international, writing in one of the British broadsheets, suggested Ireland might miss the crumble and creak of the old Lansdowne Road as they tried to establish a winning pattern in their new home at the Aviva.

Why, when he was playing he loved the old place, and on his first visit – yes! — he and his team-mates hit the Guinness afterwards and isn’t that what the game’s about, etc, etc.