‘Good beds, good wifi and good coffee’: The secrets to keeping Irish players happy in Japan

Manoeuvring a 55-person touring party and more than 10 tonnes of equipment around Japan for a month-and-a-half through half a dozen transfers is not many people’s idea of time well spent but Ger Carmody would not have it any other way.

As the IRFU Head of Operations, Carmody was the person in charge of planning the nuts and bolts of Ireland’s World Cup campaign on the other side of the world and now Joe Schmidt and his squad are in-country, it is his job to keep them on schedule and in the right place for every minute of their days.