Ireland on guard for Puma threat

IT’S claimed there were 10,000 Irish people among the 28,803 attendance in the Adelaide Oval for the World Cup clash of Ireland and Argentina on October 26 last year.

If so, it's a miracle that all of them walked out of that beautiful stadium at the end of the game still in one piece and without their nerves frazzled to the bone. They had just seen a very shaky Irish team clinch their place in the quarter-finals by a mere point, 16-15.

And if the fans felt like that, you can just imagine the torment the players and the management endured. Coach Eddie O'Sullivan's ashen countenance as he made his way to the dressing room, along with the look he gave its residents told the story better than any words could have.