‘That 30 minutes is the most enjoyable bit — or the most horrible if you’ve lost’

On Sunday, as the players file into the dressing room, the jerseys will be sequentially pegged. From left to right, numbers one to eight.

Then the forward subs, then numbers nine to 15. And the backs replacements to the right of those.

From the time the team to face Scotland was revealed to them Tuesday evening, the Ireland players get changed in their match positions at the Aviva Stadium. So yesterday and today, players can set their clock by everything from here to kick-off. It’s routine and the only thing that changes are the players’ idiosyncrasies and their habits.