Dominic Crotty: Crunch time for the Irish squad

Dominic Crotty writes about the main tasks facing the Irish XV that take on Scotland at Murrayfield on Saturday.

For each player in the penultimate squad of thirty seven this is it, one step away from the precious goal of representing your country at a world cup. The culmination of many years of hard work, cold and wet mornings, seemingly endless sets of 300m intervals, a million horrible rucks and mauls, a million passes from left to right and effort, always more effort.

After the annual intensive camp at the excellent training facility in Spala, the sporting equivalent of a short stay at an industrial school, and a further stint in Limerick, a resort by comparison, the Irish squad must be itching to get back onto the field in earnest.