Confident Quinlan ready for intense battle

HAVING trained with the Grand Slam squad over an eight week period, Alan Quinlan had a bird’s eye view of the team dynamics, and how they went from being simply colleagues to close friends in a short space of time.

However, he says it doesn’t mean that when buddies collide in the self-styled ‘Battle of Ireland’ tonight that close friendships will temper the physical exchanges or the intensity of this local dispute.

As a veteran of this inter-provincial rivalry that stretches back over a century, returning to your province to prepare to face your Ireland team-mates is not a new situation he has had to face – even if the friendships forged in Ireland camp this year are stronger than ever before.