Irish big guns fire opening shots

With some tickets still unsold for the November Tests against South Africa and Argentina, and the sporting landscape cluttered with everything from golf in Chicago to GAA in Croke Park, the IRFU decided yesterday was time to roll out the big guns.

So it was that Brian O’Driscoll, Paul O’Connell and Jonathan Sexton were all on hand in the sumptuous Morrison Room of Carton House for a spot of promotional duty — but there is nothing like success to get bums on seats and, in essence, all three said as much.

A month has passed since Declan Kidney assembled his troops for the first time since the 60-0 debacle in New Zealand and the impression is that a line was drawn in the sand that day at the Aviva Stadium in much the same way as at that famous pre-Slam team meeting in Enfield in 2008.