Lions heartache just a memory as Irish switch focus

In the end, all that talk of rancour and revenge was just that.

As is their wont, Irish and Welsh fans mingled freely. Smiles, laughter and a few beers were the order of the day. The only hangover from last summer — aside from the last-minute scuffle that saw Mike Phillips sent to the line — was a white sheet draped from the window of one of the houses that encircle the Aviva Stadium.

‘Brian O’Driscoll stars in The Lions King’, it proclaimed. Warren Gatland was credited in the role of Scar. Naturally.