Focused Ireland earn just rewards

SATURDAY’s epic World Cup victory over Australia was kindled over a week of strong words and significant acts in the Ireland camp.

Having tasted the high life and fun of Queenstown without a midget in sight, followed by a short stay in New Plymouth for the USA game that kicked off Ireland’s campaign eight days ago, head coach Declan Kidney decamped to the Auckland suburbs, where the only outside recreation within a kilometre of the team hotel appeared to be a supermarket and a petrol station.

If anything can focus the minds, it is a bit of cold, hard reality and while the players were not exactly on skid row, their week without distraction produced spectacular results.