Food for thought as Irish squad get taste of Argentina

The English sportswriter John Hopkins once described tours of New Zealand by the British and Irish Lions as a cross between a medieval crusade and a prep school outing.

Times have changed since, but the fact remains that some tours are longer and more onerous than others.

After ten months of solid rugby, whether training or playing, the thoughts of a two-Test tour on the back of a long-haul flight to somewhere like Resistencia, where Ireland face Argentina today, or Tucuman where they lock horns next week, must be something less than idyllic.