‘We’re fully aware what’s at stake’

“The guys are buzzing, getting stuck into each other (at training) as though it were the French game.”

THEY’VE been counting the days to Rugby World Cup 2007 since the first few hours of pre-season training in Spala, Poland in mid June.

But as members of the squad skipped through the lobby of their hotel in Stillorgan yesterday and onto the bus that ferries them the short distance to the Belfield Bowel in UCD, the RWC buzz was palpable. Maybe the players’ upbeat nature was a result of the positive news on Brian O’Driscoll’s injury released just 24 hours earlier. But when they’ll board their flight to Bordeaux this afternoon and touch down in southwest France at 6pm, they’ll realise that it’s show time.