Now for the serious stuff...

NOW we can turn to the real business of the November internationals. Saturday’s training run against Canada at stormy Thomond Park showed up some minor shortcomings but otherwise it was a futile exercise for new Ireland coach Declan Kidney.

The Canadians were willing but they were far from able. They never looked like scoring from any facet of play and while they were hard done by unsympathetic referee Christophe Berdos, it was one of those occasions when you wondered how this kind of affair could benefit the game of rugby.

With the All Blacks filling the horizon, Kidney must figure out how anything meaningful could be derived from a non-contest in which the opposition would have been hard pressed to cope with a mid-table team in the AIL. But as defence coach Les Kiss stressed: “You can only deal with what’s in front of you,” and on that basis, the likes of Stephen Ferris, Keith Earls, Robert Kearney, Tommy Bowe and Shane Horgan put down very significant markers.