Eddie happy with Croker surface

IT WAS the morning after a very difficult day before, but the Irish management team and players were all bright-eyed and bushy-tailed as they departed Cardiff yesterday for their Six Nations base in Killiney.

Relief that an onerous assignment had been negotiated was the tangible reaction among all concerned but as quickly, it will be time to move on to Croke Park. Coach Eddie O’Sullivan has not only carefully studied the video of Sunday’s 19-9 victory over Wales but is already focusing on the next challenge.

“We’ve had a couple of runs at Croke Park and are very happy with the surface and the stadium,” said O’Sullivan. “What it will be like in terms of atmosphere we don’t know because we’ve never been out there when the stadium was full. Strangely enough, one of the problems we encountered in the Millennium Stadium was the noise levels.